Description and research notes
This item consists of a matched pair of archival photographic prints documenting the front and back designs of a proposed 5 Dollars banknote for Barbados, dated to approximately 1968 and produced by Bradbury Wilkinson and Company Limited of New Malden, Surrey, England. The pair preserves a transitional and apparently abandoned currency concept carrying the issuer name Bank of Barbados, a title that does not correspond to the formal issuing authority ultimately adopted by the country.
The front design presents a complete engraved banknote layout featuring a portrait of Queen Elizabeth the Second, the Barbados coat of arms, ornamental denomination panels, and the inscription Bank of Barbados across the center. The serial-style placeholder numbering A0000000 confirms the non-circulating and archival nature of the design. Unlike finalized specimen or proof notes prepared from approved issues, this photographic pair appears to document an earlier developmental stage before the issuer structure and legal framework of the note issue were fully settled.
The reverse design depicts a coastal Barbados landscape with shoreline vegetation, palm trees, harbor scenery, and marine activity rendered in the engraved style characteristic of late Bradbury Wilkinson Caribbean production. Along the lower margin appears the full printer imprint Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. Ltd New Malden Surrey England, directly identifying the producer responsible for the design work and archival record.
The historical importance of this pair lies in the fact that the proposed issuer itself appears never to have advanced into formal monetary use. Barbados later adopted the Central Bank of Barbados as its issuing authority, and circulating notes followed a different institutional identity. These photographs therefore preserve evidence of an intermediate conceptual stage in Barbados monetary development rather than a finalized banknote issue.
Archival photographic records such as these were typically produced in very limited quantities for internal printer archives, approval review, administrative reference, or presentation purposes. Material tied to abandoned or revised concepts had little institutional reason to survive once projects changed direction, making surviving examples substantially rarer than standard specimen or proof material associated with approved banknote issues.
Paper Money Guaranty identifies the pieces as Front Archival Photograph and Back Archival Photograph and classifies them as Pick Unlisted. The photographs are not legal tender, were never issued for circulation, and do not represent specimens of a released Barbados banknote type. Instead, they survive as primary-source production records from the design history of modern Barbados paper money.
This matched front and back pair is preserved in Paper Money Guaranty holders, with the front graded 66 Gem Uncirculated and the back graded 65 Gem Uncirculated. As a complete archival design pair documenting an apparently unadopted Barbados issuer concept produced by Bradbury Wilkinson, the set represents exceptionally important and highly elusive Caribbean monetary archive material.