Collection PL

Paraguay 1907 - Banco de la República 5 Pesos Issued Note (Pick 156)

The issued Pick 156 also provides the clearest visual comparison for the 1912 overprinted notes. On the single-side Pick 127 issue, the face overprint crosses the central portrait and title, visibly placing state authority over the original banknote. On the dual-side Pick Unlisted variety, the reverse overprint adds the Departamento de Hacienda and Junta Fiscalizadora layer and repeats the “Cincuenta Centavos Oro Sellado” value formula. Without the issued note, those later interventions can be misunderstood as isolated markings. With the issued note present, the full sequence becomes clear: Paraguay first had a refined Banco de la República note, then turned surviving stock into emergency state currency, and in special cases added further Treasury control. Read more →

Barbados 1968 - Bank of Barbados 5 Dollars Prefix AA Front and Back Archival Photograph (Pick Unlisted)

This item consists of a matched pair of archival photographic prints documenting the front and back designs of a proposed 5 Dollars banknote for Barbados, dated to approximately 1968 and produced by Bradbury Wilkinson and Company Limited of New Malden, Surrey, England. The pair preserves a transitional and apparently abandoned currency concept carrying the issuer name Bank of Barbados, a title that does not correspond to the formal issuing authority ultimately adopted by the country. 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 →

Ireland - Northern 1929 - Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound Proof with Specimen Perforation (Pick 306p)

PMG identifies the piece as a proof, graded PMG 55 EPQ About Uncirculated, with specimen perforation and selvage included. The retained selvage gives the proof a sheet-context that is rarely preserved on a single note, while the specimen perforation marks the piece as controlled production material. These features keep the object close to the production and approval process rather than reducing it to a separated printed design. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 1929 - Ulster Bank Limited Large-Format Watermarked Security Paper

This large-format Ulster Bank Limited watermarked security paper preserves the bank-name watermark used for private banknote production in the Northern Ireland issue period. The sheet belongs to the broader Ulster Bank Limited security-paper and proof-production environment associated with the 1929-1934 issue group, while its identity is defined by the watermark itself: Ulster Bank Limited. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 1940 - Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound Issued Note (Pick 306)

The promise-to-pay text dominates the center of the note, presenting the banknote as the obligation of Ulster Bank Limited rather than a central-bank issue. The large blue ONE POUND panel, red serial numbers, ornamental denomination cartouches, and engraved borderwork create a layered design that remained close to the proof material of the same design family while functioning here as a completed issued note. Read more →

Scotland 1966 - National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited 5 Pounds Issued Note (Pick 272a)

The lower face carries the bank's armorial device, with heraldic supporters and motto beneath the central obligation. This use of arms gives the note a formal institutional presence, linking the printed currency to the legal and commercial authority of the issuing bank. The fine guilloche work, patterned security fields, and structured border engraving reflect the Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company production style used for British and Commonwealth banknote work during the period. Read more →

Scotland 1962 - National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited 5 Pounds Photographic Back Proof, Edinburgh Castle Design (Pick Unlisted)

The composition is built around Edinburgh Castle and the surrounding city architecture, with the fortress rising above the neoclassical buildings and urban landscape below. This was a deliberate institutional image. For a Scottish commercial banknote, Edinburgh Castle gave the back design an immediate national reference, combining historical authority, capital-city identity, and financial permanence in a single engraved scene. Read more →

Scotland 1962 - National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited 5 Pounds Photographic Back Proof, Landscape Design (Pick Unlisted)

The proof also shows how the reverse had to function as a banknote design, not just as a picture. The landscape sits inside a controlled frame with denomination counters, bank title, side borders, and lower ornamental structure. The scene had to carry national character while leaving the note readable, balanced, and suitable for security printing. In that sense, the piece records the practical design problem behind every banknote reverse: image, denomination, identity, and production discipline all had to work together. Read more →

Poland 1941 - 1 Zloty Bank Emisyjny w Polsce State Note BD3580426 (Pick 99)

The paper incorporates watermark type 14, formed by a repeating geometric pattern of large light rectangular elements surrounded by smaller dark corner elements. The banknote was designed by Leonard Sowiński. Read more →