Two rare 1,000 dollar bills from the 1800s have fetched 960,000 dollars (£678,000) each at auction in the US.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ currency director Peter Treglia said the same person who bought one of those bills also bought a rare 500 dollar bill from the same year for 900,000 dollars.

Both of those pieces were from 1863.

Mr Treglia said the buyer wants to remain anonymous.

A depiction of Declaration of Independence signer Robert Morris is seen on the front of an 1863 1,000 dollar bill (Courtney Columbus/AP)
A depiction of Declaration of Independence signer Robert Morris is seen on the front of a 1,000 dollar bill (Courtney Columbus/AP)

Total sales from the Joel R Anderson Collection topped 7.9 million dollars – more than 800,000 dollars above the Baltimore galleries’ highest predictions.

Seven bills sold for more than half a million dollars each.

A second instalment of rare money from the same collection will be sold in August at an auction in Philadelphia, and two other instalments will be sold at future events.