Collection PL

Argentina 1876 - Banco de San Juan 1 Peso Fuerte Specimen (Pick S1880s)

Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company’s involvement documents the early penetration of British security printing into Argentina’s interior provinces. While later national issues would dominate the historical record, provincial banknotes such as this one represent the experimental and transitional phase of Argentine monetary development, when regional institutions exercised near-sovereign authority over credit and currency. Read more →

Argentina 1876 - Banco de San Juan 1 Peso Fuerte Condor Vignette (Bradbury Wilkinson and Company)

This engraved vignette die proof was produced by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., London, for the Banco de San Juan 1 Peso Fuerte issue of 1876. The vignette depicts a large bird of prey standing before a mountainous landscape, enclosed within an oval composition. The same engraving appears at the left of the completed Banco de San Juan banknote, where it forms the principal pictorial element of the design. Read more →

Argentina 1876 - Banco de San Juan 5 Pesos Fuertes Specimen (S1881s)

As such, this piece constitutes a structurally unique archival artifact documenting provincial private banknote authorization in nineteenth-century Argentina. Together with the corresponding 1 Peso Fuerte specimen, it forms a complete surviving specimen pair that records San Juan’s brief participation in Argentina’s decentralized banking experiment before national monetary consolidation. Read more →

Argentina 1876 - Banco de San Juan 5 Pesos Fuertes Central Portrait Vignette (Bradbury Wilkinson and Company)

This engraved portrait vignette die proof was produced by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., London, for the Banco de San Juan 5 Pesos Fuertes issue of 1876. The vignette depicts a classical female figure wearing a wreath and draped garment, engraved within an oval portrait format. The same portrait appears at the center of the completed Banco de San Juan banknote, where it forms the principal pictorial element of the design. Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 200 Reales Vellón Serie B Issued Note No. 07958 (Pick S4532s)

A specimen of the Banco de Zaragoza 200 reales vellón dated 14 May 1857, Serie B, serial number 07958, classified as Pick S452s. This is the standard specimen format as preserved for printer archives and official reference, fully complete in its intended banknote form. The Madrid-school engraving includes the Spanish coat of arms, detailed acanthus ornaments, and formal promise text characteristic of Zaragoza's mid-19th century private-bank issues. Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 2000 Reales Vellón Serie E Issued Note No. 00589 (Pick S455)

An extraordinarily rare issued 2000 reales vellón banknote from the Banco de Zaragoza dated 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial number 00589. Classified as Pick S455, this note represents the highest denomination placed into active circulation by the bank. Very few issued examples of any Banco de Zaragoza notes survive, and among these, the 2000 reales denomination is one of the most elusive. Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 2000 Reales Vellón Serie E Issued Note No. 00500 (Pick S455)

A fully issued 2000 reales vellón banknote from the Banco de Zaragoza dated 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial number 00500. Classified under Pick S455, this note represents the highest denomination from Zaragoza known to have entered active circulation. Its survival is an exceptional anomaly: most high-value private-bank issues from this period were redeemed rapidly and destroyed, leaving only a microscopic population of true circulation-authorized notes. Read more →

Jersey 1840 - Bible Christian Church, Royal Crescent £1 Remainder (Pick Unlisted)

The Bible Christian Church was a distinct Methodist branch active on Jersey during the 1837–1850 period, operating schools, chapels, and local relief programs. Financial instruments of this kind were produced in extremely small numbers and were not part of any formal island-wide banknote system. Surviving remainders are scarce and often represent the only material evidence of these local religious-financial networks. Read more →

Poland 1940 - 10 Zlotych Bank Emisyjny w Polsce Prefix C Kraków Issue Approval Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This Prefix C approval specimen of the 10 Złotych issue documents the formal authorization stage of one of the core denominations of the 1940 General Government banknote series. Dated Kraków, 1 March 1940, the note represents the fully approved production standard used to initiate circulation printing by Bank Emisyjny w Polsce. Read more →

Poland 1940 - 20 Zlotych Bank Emisyjny w Polsce Prefix A Kraków Issue Approval Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This Prefix A approval specimen of the 20 Złotych issue documents the formal authorization stage of the occupation-era monetary system administered by Bank Emisyjny w Polsce. Dated Kraków, 1 March 1940, the note represents the fully accepted production standard from which circulation printing was initiated. It is a completed, signed, and institutionally approved banknote retained as a reference at the moment when monetary authority was translated into physical form. Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 2000 Reales Vellón Serie E Issued Note No. 00286 (Pick S455)

A genuinely rare issued 2000 reales vellón banknote of the Banco de Zaragoza, dated Zaragoza, 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial number 00286. Catalogued as Pick S455, this denomination represents the upper tier of the bank’s circulating emissions and belongs to a class of notes that were produced in limited quantities and almost entirely redeemed and destroyed. Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 2000 Reales Vellón Serie E Issued Consecutive Pair No. 00031–00032 (Pick S455)

An exceptional issued consecutive pair of 2000 reales vellón banknotes from the Banco de Zaragoza, dated Zaragoza, 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial numbers 00031 and 00032. Catalogued as Pick S455, this pair represents one of the earliest surviving serial groupings of the highest denomination issued by the bank and illustrates the original form in which such notes were placed into circulation. Read more →