Description and research notes
This £20 Sterling Circular Note specimen was prepared for The Bank of New South Wales at Sydney as a portable international banking instrument connecting Australian customers with the bank's London office and correspondent banking network. The printed form belongs to the 20th-century series identified by the open date field "19__" and preserves the complete unused structure through which a traveler could obtain funds while abroad.
The face is headed "The Bank of New South Wales" in elaborate script above the designation "CIRCULAR NOTE for £20 STERLING." Sydney appears prominently beneath the denomination, with an open "No. A" control field at upper left. The instruction is addressed to bankers named in the accompanying Letter of Indication, linking the note directly to the identification document used with the circular-note system.
The main text explains the payment procedure in full. The presenting customer was identified through the signature recorded on the Letter of Indication, after which the banker was instructed to pay the value of twenty pounds sterling without deduction at the exchange of the day on London. Settlement was made against the holder's draft on the London Office of The Bank of New South Wales, endorsed on the instrument. Blank Accountant and Manager signature lines complete the face.
The design combines formal banking script with an elaborate vertical security panel carrying "BANK OF N.S.W." at the left and a large yellow-gold denomination underprint extending across the central field. The paper is surrounded by a pale blue border and carries a major security feature in the form of a large BANK OF NEW SOUTH WALES watermark accompanied by oversized ornamental watermark elements extending across much of the sheet.
Specimen status is established by the large red SPECIMEN overprint across the center together with two separate Charles Skipper & East specimen stamps applied diagonally across the face. These printer markings preserve the note as a controlled reference example of the Sydney £20 form and document the involvement of Charles Skipper & East in its production.
The reverse is fully printed as a blank demand draft and forms an essential part of the circular-note mechanism. It provides for payment "On demand" to the order of the named party and repeats the value as £20 Stg. and "TWENTY POUNDS Sterling value received." Blank fields were provided for the place and date of execution, again using the printed "19__" date format.
The draft is drawn on The Bank of New South Wales at 29 Threadneedle Street, E.C., London. A printed instruction states that the draft should be signed in the presence of the banker cashing it, providing an additional identification and control step at the moment of payment. The reverse also retains the pale blue border and clearly reveals the large institutional watermark and surrounding ornamental watermark structure through the paper.
Together, the face instructions, Letter of Indication reference, signature-verification procedure, London exchange provision, reverse demand draft, institutional watermark, and printer specimen markings preserve the complete operating structure of an early 20th-century Australian circular note. The Sydney £20 red-overprint specimen form is Pick Unlisted and is recorded here as R9 Extremely Rare, with this example representing the only known specimen of the exact form.
Related examples in this collection: Bank of New South Wales £10 Brisbane Circular Note Specimen, Bank of New South Wales £10 Melbourne Circular Note Specimen, Bank of New South Wales £10 London Circular Note Specimen.