Description and research notes
Rejected design proof for the 50 Dollars traveller’s cheque prepared by Bradbury Wilkinson & Co., London, for The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Submitted in 1965 as the top denomination in the same three-value series, this pink-rose specimen bears the annotation “Not Approved” and the same submission date as the $20 proof. The engraving is rich and multi-layered, displaying Bradbury Wilkinson’s refined late-intaglio craftsmanship with deep guilloche patterns and broad, formal typography.
Physical details confirm its rejected status. The control punch is at the right, both facsimile signatures are printed, and no red approval line or “B1” mark appears. Faint blue pencil notes and marginal annotations, partially visible under magnification, record its review status within the printer’s internal proof-room. The left margin also carries the handwritten “Not approved, letter 12.4.65” identical to the 20 Dollars example, linking both rejections to the same correspondence set. Its colour plate demonstrates how the printer adjusted tone and layout for larger denominations but ultimately failed to meet the client’s preference for a simpler, more conservative visual approach.
As the highest denomination in the submission, this 50 Dollars design was produced only once for presentation and retained in the printer’s archive. It is now believed to be a unique surviving proof. The combination of its pink tonality, engraved ornament, and right-side punch places it as the definitive record of the unissued top value of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited’s 1965 traveller’s cheque series — a direct link between pre-decimal artistic practice and the refined corporate cheque formats that followed after 1966.