Rare $500 bill fetches $384,000

OTTAWA, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- One of only three known Canadian $500 bills from 1911 sold for a record $384,000 at auction in Dallas.

An unidentified Canadian-born businessman in Dallas purchased the bill, which features a picture of Queen Mary, the Canwest News Service reported.

The last time a Canadian $500 bill was auctioned in 2002, it fetched $190,000, officials with Heritage Auction Galleries said.

The official said the most recent sale was "a true miracle of survival," as it was found 20 years ago in an old book. It went missing again and then turned up recently in a pile of papers about to be shredded, the report said.

Troy MacDonald, a Canadian currency specialist, told Canwest there were only about 40,000 such bills printed in 1911. He said the $500 bills are so rare that even the Bank of Canada doesn't have one in its extensive currency collection in Ottawa.