Fifteen $20 Federal Reserve Notes from the infamous 1971 "D. B. Cooper" skyjacking were sold for more than $37,000 at Heritage Auction Galleries‘ Americana Memorabilia Grand Format Auction June 13, 2008. The notes were owned by Brian Ingram, 36, of Mena, Arkansas who was eight years old in 1980 when he found the only ransom money ever discovered from the still-unsolved skyjacking.

Cooper hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 flight from Portland to Seattle in 1971. During the flight to Seattle, Cooper said he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 and parachutes. When the plane landed, he released the passengers in exchange for the money and ordered the pilot to Mexico. While in flight, he jumped from the rear stairway, and was never heard from or seen again.

The 727 Cooper jumped from was flying at a speed of nearly 200 mph. His odds of surviving were low considering the complexity of the jump and the fact that it happened at night and during stormy weather with a wind chill well below zero.

In a statement announcing the auction of notes, Ingram commented on how the money was nearly destroyed,

"We were going to make a fire along the river bank." Ingram recalled.  "I was on my hands and knees smoothing out the sand with my arm, and I uncovered three bundles of money just below the surface.  My uncle thought we should throw it in the fire."

Ingram found approximately $5,800 of the $200,000 ransom given to the skyjacker, and the FBI later returned a small portion to his family.

In February of 2008, PCGS Currency discovered nearly three dozen serial numbers that apparently had not been previously recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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(Dallas, Texas) – Fifteen $20 Federal Reserve Notes from the infamous 1971 “D. B. Cooper” skyjacking will be offered to the public for the first time in June by Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas (www.HA.com).  The notes are owned by Brian Ingram, 36, of Mena, Arkansas who was eight years old in 1980 when he found the only ransom money ever discovered from the still-unsolved skyjacking.

“Some of these notes have the initials of investigators who examined the recovered money after Ingram found it along the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington in February 1980,” said Steve Ivy, Co-Chairman of Heritage and a long-time paper money collector.

“The serial numbers all match the FBI’s list of $20 bills given to the skyjacker known as ‘D.B. Cooper’ who parachuted from a jetliner with the cash somewhere between Seattle Washington and Reno, Nevada during a rainstorm on November 24, 1971.  The 15 pieces consigned by Ingram include two Series 1963-A and four Series 1969 Federal Reserve Notes.”

The D.B. Cooper cash will be offered as part of a big auction of Americana memorabilia in Dallas and online, June 13 and 14.

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The infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper case is making headlines once again. This year the FBI was notified about the discovery of nearly three dozen D.B. Cooper serial numbers from stolen banknotes. Now the FBI has a possible D.B. Cooper torn and tangled parachute that was found buried by children in southwest Washington.

Cooper hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 flight from Portland to Seattle in 1971. During the flight to Seattle, Cooper said he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 and parachutes. When the plane landed, he released the passengers in exchange for the money and ordered the pilot to Mexico. While in flight, he jumped from the rear stairway.

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