1891 $1,000 silver certificate fetches $2.6 million at auction IRVINE, Calif., June 13 (UPI) -- A $1,000 silver certificate printed in 1891 sold for $2.6 million at an auction in Southern California. Stack's Bowers Galleries in Irvine said the certificate was only one of two in existence; the other is in a collection at the Smithsonian Institution. Wednesday's sale was during the auction of paper currency from a private collection, Stack's Bowers said in a release. Stack's Bowers says the anonymous transaction is a record for a paper currency transaction. The holdings are of different varieties and highlighted by the $1,000 Series of the 1891 silver certificate depicting William L. Marcy, a senator and governor of New York and Cabinet member in the 1800s, Stack's Bowers said. The gallery said more than 80 silver certificates will be placed in Stack's Bowers Galleries Official Auction of the ANA World's Fair of Money in Chicago Aug. 9-18. Large-size silver certificates started with the Series of 1878 and ended with the Series of 1923.