Description and research notes
Rejected design proof for the proposed 20 Dollars traveller’s cheque printed and engraved by Bradbury Wilkinson & Co., London, for The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Submitted in 1965 and annotated “Not Approved,” it represents a parallel concept in the three-denomination traveller’s cheque proposal of that year. The composition features elegant guilloche borders in blue-green and lavender hues, overprinted with a large central watermark-style globe bearing the bank’s initials C.B.C.
Several details distinguish it as a declined design: a single control punch appears at the right, opposite the approved version’s left-side punch; both facsimile signatures (General Manager and Accountant) are printed in full; and the lower margin lacks the red printed approval line seen on the $10 proof. There is also no “B1” reference code in the top right. Handwritten margin notes record submission and rejection dates (“Not approved, letter 12.4.65”), linking this directly to the printer-bank correspondence of that spring. The style suggests Bradbury Wilkinson explored a more colourful and formal presentation before the simpler approved layout was chosen.
As with most rejected prototypes, this piece was produced as a single evaluation sheet and retained in-house. Its right-side punch and complete signature panels identify it as a presentation-stage specimen rather than a functional proof. Very few of these survive, and the 20 Dollars denomination — declined prior to colour-plate separation — is believed unique in private hands. The note provides rare physical documentation of the iterative design process behind the CBC’s traveller’s cheque issue in the final pre-decimal year.