Collection PL

Australia 1880–1910 - Commercial Bank of Australia £100 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

When the Commonwealth centralized currency authority in 1910 and later established the Australian Notes Branch (and eventually the Reserve Bank), nearly all private banknote issues were recalled and destroyed. As a result, only specimen or printer’s archival material survived for many denominations. For the £100 type, the absence of issued survivors underscores the near-total eradication of high-value private currency from the record. Read more →

New Zealand 1907–1926 - Bank of New Zealand £20 Blue Serial-Prefix Audit Specimen (Pick S194s)

Historically, £20 represented the highest practical denomination issued by New Zealand’s private banks prior to monetary centralization in 1934. Circulating examples were systematically redeemed and destroyed, leaving archival specimens as the sole survivors. Audit-range serial-prefix specimens such as this were printed in microscopic quantities and retained within Bradbury Wilkinson’s London archives, making their survival extraordinarily unlikely. Read more →

Australia 1877 - City of Melbourne Bank Limited £20 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Certified PMG 62 Uncirculated, the note stands as a singular artifact of Australia’s private-banknote era. It represents the intersection of rarity, engraving excellence, and financial history, and qualifies unequivocally for classification as R9 - Unique. Read more →

Australia 1877 - Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company Portrait of Woman for City of Melbourne Bank Limited 20 Pounds Design Intaglio Vignette (Pick Unlisted)

The lower margin carries the Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. London imprint together with the number 40. Preserved independently from borders, denomination devices, issuer lettering and other elements of the completed note, the vignette allows the engraved portrait to be examined as an individual production component. Read more →

New Zealand 1896 - Bank of Australasia £50 Christchurch Proof (Pick Unlisted)

This proof displays the fully engraved obverse design, including denomination roundels, the seated allegorical vignette at center, and the formal promise to pay the bearer on demand. The layout reflects mature Victorian security printing practice, balancing ornamental complexity with legibility and authority. The absence of serial numbering, signatures, and circulation elements confirms its status as a proof prepared for reference and institutional record rather than issue. Read more →

Australia 1835-1850 - Bank of Australasia £10 Melbourne Proof (Pick Unlisted)

This example serves as a primary documentary artifact of early Australian banking practice, British export engraving, and the institutional mechanics behind the first generation of colonial banknotes. Read more →

Brazil 1773 - Diamond Administration of Tejuco, 6 Octavas Gold Receipt No. 813 (Pick Unlisted)

Population and rarity: based on exhaustive market research-including archival dealer records, institutional catalogues, the Numisbids/Aureo/Santa Fe corpus, and the accessible Brazilian literature-no second example of this printed 1773 Tejuco diamond-administration receipt is known. No specimen is documented in public collections in Portugal or Brazil. As of today, this is the only confirmed surviving example. Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Front Proof (Pick 175ap1)

The definitive front proof of the 1994 50 Złotych issue, this sheet represents the final approved obverse design prepared by Thomas De La Rue for Narodowy Bank Polski during Poland’s post-communist monetary reform. Executed as an internal production proof, it preserves the complete engraved obverse exactly as authorized for issue, prior to serial numbering and reverse printing. Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Remainder (Pick 175ar Miłczak 198a–b)

The face carries the final 50 zlotych design with King Kazimierz III Wielki, the Polish eagle, denomination panels, guilloche structures, and the complete security layout prepared for circulation. As a remainder, the note survives without serial numbering or series prefix, preserving the finished printed form before completion as circulating currency. Read more →

Australia 1877 - Mercantile Bank of Sydney £1 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Produced in London by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., the note displays the firm’s finely controlled intaglio characteristic of the 1870s: geometric borders, elaborate guilloches, and a bold typographic layout. The large red overprint “ONE” identifies it as an internal specimen, intended for reference or approval rather than circulation. Its pristine surfaces, confirmed by PMG’s Exceptional Paper Quality designation, reflect its archival preservation and the superior paper stock used for BWC’s specimen and proof work. Read more →

Australia 1879–1903 - Federal Bank of Australia, Limited £1 Sydney Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

A pencilled annotation reading “9 May 82” appears on the note. Such annotations are rarely preserved on specimen material and provide valuable documentary evidence of how reference notes were handled during the working life of a banknote design. Specimens were commonly retained in printer archives, banking offices, or presentation sets used during the approval and distribution process. Handwritten notes added during this process form part of the historical record of the object itself. In this case, the annotation confirms that the specimen was already in institutional reference use by 1882, within the earliest operational period of the Federal Bank of Australia. Read more →

Poland 1926 - 10 Zlotych Bolesław Chrobry 992–1025 Watermark Remainder (Pick 65br)

The portrait watermark featuring Poland’s first crowned king was introduced within a specific historical and symbolic framework. Its adoption followed the nationwide commemorations of 1925, marking the 900th anniversary of Bolesław Chrobry’s coronation and death. Within the visual language of the Second Polish Republic, the motif formed part of a broader state program that deliberately embedded national history into monetary design, paralleling similar iconographic choices in contemporary coinage. Read more →