Collection PL

New Zealand 1896 - Bank of Australasia £50 Christchurch Proof (Pick Unlisted)

The Bank of Australasia, incorporated by Royal Charter in 1835, operated as one of the dominant British joint stock banks across Australia and New Zealand. By the 1890s, its New Zealand branches played a central role in commercial finance, agricultural settlement, and large scale mercantile transactions. The Christchurch office served as a major regional hub, making the Fifty Pounds denomination a practical upper tier instrument for institutional and wholesale banking use. Read more →

Australia 1880-1889 - Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited £5 with Serial Prefix SPECIMEN (Pick Unlisted, MVR4a)

The note is perforated SPECIMEN across the face and lacks manuscript signatures, confirming its exclusion from any intended issuance workflow. Serial numbers appear at both sides of the face, consistent with bank and printer audit material rather than circulation stock. A pencil annotation dated 1 March 1890 is present in the upper margin, recording a printer or bank-side control date. Read more →

Australia 1890 - Bank of New South Wales £10 Brisbane Circular Note Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

A printed instruction states that the draft should be signed in the presence of the banker cashing it, adding a further control step to the payment process. The reverse also retains the pale blue border and clearly reveals the large institutional watermark and surrounding ornamental watermark structure through the paper. Read more →

Australia 1890 - Bank of New South Wales £10 Melbourne Circular Note Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

The central text records the operating terms of the circular note. The presenting traveler was to be identified through the signature entered on the accompanying Letter of Indication. Once verified, the correspondent banker was instructed to pay ten pounds sterling without deduction at the exchange of the day on London, with settlement made against the traveler's draft on the London office of The Bank of New South Wales. The Accountant and Manager signature lines remain blank, preserving the piece in its unused specimen state. Read more →

New Zealand 1870–1890 - Bank of New Zealand £1 Green Specimen (Pick S191s)

The note was produced as an internal printer’s specimen for archival retention and audit purposes. A perforation reading 'SPECIMEN B.W & Co LONDON' is applied across the lower central area, executed through pin-perforation rather than ink overprint, serving as the primary method of specimen invalidation and identification. At far left, a wide vertical audit margin remains intact, a characteristic feature of printer’s file copies retained for inspection, documentation, and internal reference within Bradbury Wilkinson’s production system. Read more →

Argentina 1884 - El Banco del Chaco 1 Peso Moneda Nacional Oro Serial 05056 (Pick S1566)

El Banco del Chaco operated within Argentina’s fragmented 1880s banking system, when provincial institutions issued gold-backed paper convertible on demand. Under this charter the Chaco branch financed frontier settlement and export agriculture, embodying the optimism of the northern provinces before the 1890 crash. Cataloged Pick S1566 / Bauman CHA-01a. Read more →

Uruguay 1896 - Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay 5 Pesos Photographic Proof Pair (Pick Unlisted)

Certified by Professional Coin Grading Service Currency as Choice New 63 for both face and back, this proof pair survives in exceptional condition and represents a rare institutional artifact of American Bank Note Company production for Uruguay during the 1890s. Read more →