Collection PL

Australia 1900 - Bank of New South Wales £20 Sydney Circular Note Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This £20 Sterling Circular Note specimen was prepared for The Bank of New South Wales at Sydney as a portable international banking instrument connecting Australian customers with the bank's London office and correspondent banking network. The printed form belongs to the 20th-century series identified by the open date field "19__" and preserves the complete unused structure through which a traveler could obtain funds while abroad. Read more →

Mauritius 1839 - Mauritius Commercial Bank 20 Dollars / 4 Pounds Sterling Issued & Cancelled Note (Pick S125)

One of the earliest surviving issued notes of the Mauritius Commercial Bank-the oldest banking institution in the Indian Ocean-this 1839 Twenty Dollar / Four Pounds Sterling note is a foundational artifact of Mauritian monetary history. Issued only one year after the bank’s founding in 1838, it belongs to the first generation of fully functional colonial paper money used on the island. These early issues circulated at a time when coin shortages were severe, and private banknotes became the primary medium of exchange for merchants, plantation owners, and shipping houses. Read more →

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

This £10 Sterling Circular Note specimen was prepared for The Bank of New South Wales at Brisbane as a portable banking instrument linking the bank's Australian branch network with its London office and correspondent bankers abroad. The printed form belongs to the 19th-century series identified by the open date field "18__" and preserves the complete unused structure through which a traveler could obtain funds while overseas. Read more →

Australia 1900 - Bank of New South Wales £10 London Circular Note Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This £10 Sterling Circular Note specimen was prepared for The Bank of New South Wales at London as part of the bank's traveler-payment system linking the issuing office with correspondent bankers and the holder's supporting Letter of Indication. The face carries the London office designation and the printed open date field "19__", placing the form within the bank's 20th-century circular-note series. Read more →

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

This £10 Sterling Circular Note specimen was prepared for The Bank of New South Wales at Melbourne for use within the bank's international traveler-payment system. The face carries the Melbourne office designation and the printed open date field "18__", placing the form within the bank's 19th-century circular-note series. Read more →

New Zealand 1895–1915 - Bank of New Zealand £5 Orange Specimen (Pick S192s)

The high-denomination anchor of the Bank of New Zealand color series, this five pounds orange specimen (Pick S192s) represents one of the most structurally complex and production-informative notes of New Zealand’s private banking era. Printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company, Limited, London, it embodies the transition from richly ornamental Victorian engraving toward the more controlled and symmetrical Edwardian framework that followed. The composition preserves the defining elements of the earlier series-paired Māori figures within oval medallions at left, a lower maritime vignette reflecting colonial trade identity, and a dense guilloche lattice enclosing the denomination-while introducing a more disciplined spatial hierarchy across the central obligation panel. Read more →

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

Surviving specimens of the S191s type are extremely scarce. Most were removed during archival reductions or lost during the transition from private-bank to centralized currency issuance. As the earliest and foundational specimen of New Zealand’s engraved banknote history, this one pound green stands as the origin point of the BNZ color lineage and a cornerstone reference within the broader narrative of colonial-era currency development. Read more →

Mauritius 1842 - Mauritius Commercial Bank 10 Dollars / 2 Pounds Sterling Issued & Cancelled (Pick S122a)

Each note was printed on watermarked paper, completed by hand, and countersigned by bank officials. Surviving examples such as this are among the earliest tangible records of Mauritius’s entry into formal banking and British colonial monetary structure. Read more →

Mauritius 1843 - Mauritius Commercial Bank 10 Dollars / 2 Pounds Sterling Remainder (Pick S122r)

Graded PMG 50 NET About Uncirculated for ink burn alone - rather than circulation wear - the note retains exceptional embossing, paper strength, and plate clarity. As a high-denomination Ten Dollar / Two Pounds Sterling remainder from the earliest functional period of Mauritian banking under British administration, it stands as a museum-grade artifact documenting the origins of the island’s formal monetary structure, its dependence on sterling, and the technical evolution of one of the British Empire’s rarest early colonial paper-money systems. Read more →

New Zealand 1924-1925 - Bank of New Zealand 10 Shillings with SPECIMEN Perforation Front Proof (Pick S231p1)

Archival proofs like this survive only because Bradbury Wilkinson preserved reference sets for internal documentation. When BWC’s archives were dispersed in the late 20th century, just a handful of front proofs from this series reached collectors. With PMG 63 Top Pop status, this example is the finest-known surviving representation of the BNZ’s last major design update-a foundational artifact in the story of New Zealand’s path from provincial commercial banking to a unified national monetary identity. Read more →

Bolivia 1903 - Banco Agricola 5 Bolivianos Front Progressive Proof and Back Proof Pair (Pick S102pp1, S102p2)

The front is especially important because it documents an intermediate stage of the printing process. The main engraved framework, denomination panels, institutional lettering, border work, and principal vignettes are already present, while the design still shows the layered character of progressive proofing. Three large red CANCELLED overprints are applied across the face, marking the piece as controlled non-issue production material and forming one of the most visually distinctive features of the proof. Read more →

Ireland 1920 - Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound Proof (Pick 388p / UB39)

The design is fully realized rather than skeletal. The large blue central panel carries the denomination, while the engraved promise-to-pay text sweeps across the face in dramatic script. The top border names Ulster Bank Limited, and the lower border includes Belfast and Dublin, reflecting the bank's pre-partition Irish operating identity. At the center is a maritime and industrial vignette with a sailing ship, dockside structure, cart, plough, and landscape elements, tying the note visually to trade, agriculture, and commercial movement across Ireland. The denomination appears again in ornate cartouches at left and right, with a bold ONE panel below, creating a layered composition typical of high-quality private banknote engraving. Read more →