Description and research notes
A numbered approval specimen of the Bank of New Zealand £5 Orange design, printed by Bradbury Wilkinson & Co., London, circa 1913. Though derived from the 1895 S192 plate, this example bears two distinct serial numbers (286901 and 296900), identifying it as a multi-serial approval specimen—part of a control pair used for printer audit and bank record verification. PMG lists this variant as Pick S192ms.
Such specimens were pulled at the beginning of a production range and retained for archival inspection, not distribution. The design retains the Māori figures and coastal vignettes of the original Victorian series but adds a deeper orange duty tint and CANCELLED/SPECIMEN controls on both sides.
It connects the earlier [£10 Brown (S193s)](https://1994.pl/collection/item/new-zealand-1895-bank-of-new-zealand-10-pounds-brown-s193s-specimen.html) and later [£1 Red (S212bs)](https://1994.pl/collection/item/new-zealand-1905-1916-bank-of-new-zealand-1-pound-red-s212bs-with-serial-prefix-specimen.html) issues, proving that Bradbury Wilkinson continued small-batch archival runs into the WWI period.