A worn fragment of a $20 banknote linked to the famous 1971 D.B. Cooper hijacking has sold for $134,200 (£102,800) at an auction in Dallas, Texas. The 1969-series $20 Federal Reserve Note, with serial number L32796069A, was part of the GACC U.S, according to official sales records published by Heritage Auctions. Currency Signature Auction held from October 6 to October 9, 2026.
The damaged banknote is one of the few pieces of physical evidence ever recovered from the ransom money given to the unidentified hijacker before he parachuted into the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.
The mystery took an unexpected turn in February 1980, when eight-year-old Brian Ingram was digging in the sand to build a campfire during a family outing at Tena Bar. The bundles contained about $5,800. Federal investigators checked the serial numbers on the damaged bills and confirmed that they matched the official list of $20 notes handed to Cooper during the 1971 hijacking. In 1986, federal authorities allowed the Ingram family to keep some of the recovered bills.
Ingram found three decaying bundles of ransom money buried in the sand, according to historical records from the FBI. The beach lies along the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington. The discovery led to renewed searches along the riverbanks. However, investigators could not determine whether river currents had carried the money to Tena Bar or whether Cooper had buried it there himself. These notes have appeared at major currency auctions from time to time over the following decades.
The $134,200 sale shows that public interest in the unsolved case remains strong. The $20 note fragment sold by Heritage Auctions has badly damaged edges, water damage, and missing sections. These marks resulted from years of exposure to river sediment before the note was found in 1980. The auction brought in a total of $8,727,555 from sales of US paper money. The FBI officially ended its active field investigation into the Cooper case in July 2016.
The D.B, according to official reporting from Heritage Auctions. The D.B. Cooper hijacking is still the only unsolved skyjacking in commercial aviation history. The agency redirected its resources to other criminal cases but continues to review physical evidence and serial numbers submitted by members of the public.
Cooper bill was offered alongside historically important high-denomination banknotes.