A rare $5 bill nearly 100 years old from Fort Myers could fetch $15K

Five bucks isn’t going to buy it.

A $5 bill issued by First National Bank of Fort Myers nearly 100 years ago is up for auction, and it’s expected to sell for as much as $15,000.

The bill, which features a portrait of President Benjamin Harrison, is signed by M.F. Flynn, bank cashier, and Frank C. Alderman, the bank’s president. The back of the bill depicts the landing of the pilgrims.

People of influence: Frank Alderman Sr.

The lot description reads, in part:

“Public offerings of the scant few large size notes is as one can expect, very seldom and the last to sell publicly was a PMG Very Fine 30 $10 Plain Back which brought $11,162 in a January 2013 sale. This Five Dollar note is of nearly the same quality as it retains strong banking signatures and mostly even circulation, save for some stains which is mentioned by PMG in the comments section of the holder.”

Darilyn Alderman, of Fort Myers, is the widow of Frank Alderman III, grandson of Frank C. Alderman, the bank president.

“I think it’s amazing that someone somewhere held this bill for nearly 100 years,” she said. “I think it’s incredible, just incredible.”

The online auction ends Aug. 2, then transitions to a live auction. Most of the serious bidders are expected to fly to Denver to participate in the live auction, which is that day.

The dating of the currency may seem a bit confusing.

Even though the bill states “series of 1902,” it could have been issued any time after 1908, according to Manning Garrett, director of currency auctions for Stack’s Bowers Galleries.

The bill features “January 29, 1908,” the date the bank was issued its national charter.

“To be able to nationalize, your town had to have a certain population and the bank had to have a certain amount of capital,” Garrett said. “It was a big deal.”

Florida was home to 752,619 people in 1910, according to the U.S. Census. Lee County, which then included what today are Collier and Hendry counties, was home to 6,294 that year. About 3,000 of those people lived in Fort Myers.

Historical research suggests the bill couldn't have been issued any earlier than 1920. That's because Walter Langford served as the bank's president until the time of his death on Nov. 15, 1920.

“From 1863 to 1935, any bank in the country could issue their own money and 12,635 banks did issue their own money, but there was only one in Fort Myers and it was from First National Bank,” Garrett said. “The reason this one is worth so much is because it’s one of only four or five known to exist that was issued by that Fort Myers bank.”

The First National Bank of Fort Myers no longer exists. However, the distinctive granite bank building erected in 1914 still stands at the corner of First and Hendry streets, housing law offices.

The currency being auctioned was printed in Washington, D.C., and shipped to the bank in sheets of four. Garrett expects the bill, which comes from a Connecticut estate, to most likely go to a bidder who has ties to this area, or at least to Florida.

There may be only a dozen serious bidders for this bill, he said, but “those dozen people are extremely motivated because if you miss this opportunity you might have to wait 10 or 20 years before you can find another one.”

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