Collection PL

Austria 1800 - Wiener Stadt Banco 5 Gulden Issued Note (Pick A33)

The note’s design reflects the mature typographic language of the Wiener Stadt Banco. Authority and trust are conveyed through dense calligraphic text, a rigorously symmetrical layout, and clearly articulated denomination panels. Security depended on material and structural features rather than pictorial imagery, including multiple blind embossed seals, hand-applied elements, and a complex watermark system displaying the value in both Arabic and Roman numerals. These measures represent a deliberate, pre-industrial approach to counterfeit deterrence, optimized for a multi-regional empire. Read more →

Austria 1806 - Wiener Stadt Banco 10 Gulden Issued Note (Pick A39a)

Security relied on material and procedural features rather than pictorial engraving. A prominent watermark displaying the value in both Arabic and Roman numerals, multiple blind embossed seals, and hand-applied serial numbers and signatures formed the core anti-counterfeiting measures. These elements illustrate an advanced, yet still pre-industrial, approach to security printing at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Read more →

France 1793 - Domaines Nationaux Assignat 10 Sous Block 305, Watermark RF/Xs (Pick A68b)

The face shows the typographic layout introduced for the small denominations: a classical frame with civic emblems and the famous border mottos 'LA LOI PUNIT DE MORT LE CONTREFACTEUR' and 'LA NATION RÉCOMPENSE LE DÉNONCIATEUR'. At the base sits a triangular medallion with the Phrygian cap and value, while a large blind‑embossed (timbre sec) seal provides non‑inked security. Read more →

France 1793 - Domaines Nationaux Assignat 50 Sols Série 681 Watermark RF/50s (Pick A70b)

Design details include 'Loi du 23 Mai 1793', 'Série 681', the manuscript signature 'Fausny', an impressed state seal (timbre sec), and a purpose‑made watermark 'RF/50s'. The border retains the period anti‑counterfeiting warnings promising death to forgers and reward to informers-legal theater that doubled as a security feature. Read more →

France 1792 - Domaines Nationaux Assignat 15 Sols Série 1808 (Pick A54)

The frame is packed with didactic devices: laurel panels, civic emblems, the legal threats against forgers, and the reward to informers. A large blind‑embossed state seal anchors the center; the value sits in a round cartouche flanked by allegorical figures. Manuscript signature 'Buttin' and 'Série 1808' identify the control group for this print run. Read more →

Portugal 1799 - Real Erario 20000 Reis Apólice, Original Issue, No Overprint, Lisboa No. 37723

The face displays a fully engraved ornamental border and a frieze of oval vignettes along the upper margin, incorporating emblematic and allegorical imagery typical of late eighteenth-century Portuguese state paper. At the center of the upper panel is a blind embossed pressure seal, an official authentication device applied without ink. The printed place and year read Lisboa 1799, and the denomination appears in period form as 20$000 reis. The printed series letter is R. The handwritten serial number, No. 37723, is executed in red ink and served as a primary control element linking the document to Treasury registers. Read more →