Collection PL

Bolivia 1904 - Banco Nacional 5 Bolivianos Specimen (Pick S2143s)

Specimen of the 1904 Banco Nacional de Bolivia 5 Bolivianos, engraved and printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. (BWC) in London. The note bears the date SUCRE, 1 de Enero de 1904, and features the portrait of Simón Bolívar at center-an enduring symbol of republican legitimacy. The engraving itself traces back to a mid-19th-century French lithograph of Bolívar that was reused and refined by BWC for several Latin American issues, earning it the nickname 'the export Bolívar.' Surrounding design elements include elaborate guilloché frames, floral counters, and a small vignette of Potosí’s Cerro Rico, underscoring the country’s reliance on silver mining wealth. Read more →

Great Britain 1904 - Thomas Cook & Son $50 Circular Note Photographic Proof (Pick Unlisted)

A photographic proof of the 50 Dollars Circular Note produced for Thomas Cook and Son circa 1904, representing a pre-issue production artifact created during the final design and approval phase of one of the earliest globally recognized private payment instruments. This proof predates finished circulation notes and preserves the engraved face as prepared for reproduction rather than for direct financial use. These instruments are directly related to what later became known as Travellers Cheque and Travelers Check systems and are often collected within the same category of early international payment instruments. Read more →

Great Britain 1919 - Thomas Cook and Son 5 Pounds Circular Note Photographic Proof (Pick Unlisted)

This 1919 proof occupies an important position between earlier Thomas Cook circular note designs and the more standardized traveller-payment instruments of the early 1920s. It connects backward to the earlier Thomas Cook and Son 50 Dollars Circular Note photographic proof and forward to the later Thomas Cook and Son 5 Pounds Travellers Cheque photographic proof. The comparison shows the continuity of Thomas Cook's identity-linked payment system while also documenting the movement from circular note design language toward the later traveller's cheque format. Read more →

Great Britain 1919 - Thomas Cook and Son 5 Pounds Circular Note Photographic Proof, Alternate Design (Pick Unlisted)

The broader sequence connects this proof backward to the earlier Thomas Cook and Son 50 Dollars Circular Note photographic proof and forward to the later Thomas Cook and Son 5 Pounds Travellers Cheque photographic proof. That relationship places the item within a documented evolution of Thomas Cook private payment instruments, from Edwardian circular notes through postwar design review and into the more standardized traveller-payment forms of the early 1920s. Read more →

Great Britain 1900 - Thomas Cook and Son 4 Pounds 1 Shilling 8 Pence Sight Draft Photographic Proof (Pick Unlisted)

This sight draft connects naturally with the wider Thomas Cook and Son sequence. It belongs near the earlier Thomas Cook and Son 50 Dollars Circular Note photographic proof and helps explain the payment environment from which the later circular note and travellers cheque instruments developed. It also provides an important contrast with the 1919 Thomas Cook and Son 5 Pounds Circular Note photographic proof and the 1919 Thomas Cook and Son Limited 50 Dollars Travellers Cheques photographic proof with central eagle vignette, where the design language becomes more elaborate, more security-printed, and more explicitly tied to named redemption regions. Read more →

Great Britain c. 1900 - Thomas Cook and Son 20 Pounds Circular Note, Cancelled Unissued Note (Pick Unlisted)

Within the wider Thomas Cook sequence preserved in this collection, the note connects with the Thomas Cook and Son 50 Dollars Circular Note photographic proof, the 1919 Thomas Cook and Son 5 Pounds Circular Note photographic proof, and the alternate 1919 5 Pounds Circular Note photographic proof. Those production-stage artifacts document the development of Thomas Cook Circular Note designs, while this 20 Pounds note preserves a finished serial-numbered operational form from the working payment system. Read more →