Collection PL

Australia 1877 - Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company Portrait of Woman for City of Melbourne Bank Limited 20 Pounds Design Intaglio Vignette (Pick Unlisted)

This engraved Portrait of Woman intaglio vignette was produced by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., London, and is directly connected to the City of Melbourne Bank Limited 20 Pounds specimen of 1877, where the same portrait appears as the principal vignette within the large ornamental panel at left. The proof preserves that portrait as a stand-alone engraved component before its integration into the complete banknote design. Read more →

China 1880 - Sinkiang Textile Emergency Currency Cloth Note (Pick Unlisted)

The visual structure is consistent with Qing-era frontier issues. Irregular woodblock borders, asymmetrical ornamental elements, and uneven ink saturation indicate manual block alignment rather than mechanized printing. The calligraphy shows brush-based execution with variable stroke weight and non-standardized character spacing, a feature typical of late Qing administrative production and incompatible with twentieth-century commercial banknote printing. 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 →

Great Britain 1997 - Thomas De La Rue 100 Units Test Note Portal Watermark

Certified by PMG as Gem Uncirculated 66 EPQ, this example ranks among the finest known. Such test pieces are seldom offered publicly, and their design exemplifies the technological innovations De La Rue introduced to the banknote printing industry in the late 20th century. Read more →

North Macedonia 1996 - 5000 Denari Photographic Transparency Essay (Maenad Vignette)

This photographic transparency records the engraved Maenad vignette prepared during the design development of the Republic of Macedonia’s inaugural 5000 Denari banknote. Created within the pre-press workflow of Thomas De La Rue & Company Limited in London, the transparency preserves the original engraved image before the design progressed into plate production and full banknote printing. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 1940 - Northern Bank Limited 1 Pound Issued Note, Black Prefix and Serial Number (Pick 178b / NR68)

The upper central vignette combines maritime and industrial imagery: a sailing vessel, dockside structure, industrial equipment, landscape elements, and the machinery of trade. This imagery connects the note to the commercial world served by Northern Bank Limited, including shipping, manufacturing, linen, engineering, and regional enterprise. The engraved borderwork, denomination panels, and ornamental counters continue the older visual language of private and regional banknote issue, even as the note belongs to the twentieth-century sterling banking environment of Northern Ireland. Read more →

Japan 1800 - Edo Period 5 Momme Silver Hansatsu with Daikokuten Reverse and Oil Merchant Validation Seal Woodblock Printed on Handmade Washi Paper

The reverse also includes dense ornamental wave-pattern carving and patterned border work. These designs added visual richness, but they also served a practical security purpose. Complicated woodblock patterns were difficult to imitate convincingly, especially for an amateur forger. Together with the seals, calligraphy, deity vignette, and handmade paper, the design created a multi-layered anti-counterfeiting system built from the tools available before industrial banknote printing. Read more →

Poland 1928 - Bank Polski 20 Zlotych Archival Watermarked Paper (Miłczak 67)

Archival watermarked paper prepared by Thomas De La Rue and Company Limited in London for the unissued Bank Polski 20 Zlotych banknote dated 2 January 1928. This piece preserves the original production substrate for the note: the security paper with multitone portrait watermark, before banknote printing. It is not a printed banknote, but a surviving archival component from one of the most important unrealized Polish banknote projects of the interwar period. Read more →

China 1949 - People's Bank of China 100 Yuan Red Ship Unnumbered Multi-Layer Alignment Trial with Inverted 1948 100 Yuan Underprint (Pick Unlisted)

The Red Ship type was printed by the Shanghai Banknote Printing Plant. Issued notes were completed with a three-character prefix and serial number before trimming and release, while this sheet remains from an earlier stage of the printing process. Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Rare London Print C-Prefix Note, CH9769411, Milczak 198A

This 1994 Poland 50 Zlotych issued note, serial CH9769411, belongs to the London-printed portion of the first redenominated banknote series of the Third Polish Republic. It is cataloged as Milczak 198A and Pick 175a and was produced by Thomas De La Rue in London for Narodowy Bank Polski. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 1929 - Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound Uncut Sheet of 3 Proofs with Specimen Perforation (Pick Unlisted)

Ulster Bank Limited belonged to the private banknote tradition of Ireland and Northern Ireland, where commercial banks continued to issue their own notes under regulated authority. As an uncut sheet of 3 proofs on Ulster Bank Limited watermarked security paper, this object stands as a rare and unusually complete survivor of the Pick 306p design family and supports its classification as an R9 Extremely Rare proof artifact. Read more →