Collection PL

Australia 1880–1910 - Commercial Bank of Australia £100 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

A monumental survivor from Australia’s private banking era, this £100 specimen ranks among the most important colonial-era notes known. Printed circa 1880–1910 for the Commercial Bank of Australia Limited, it represents the uppermost denomination produced under the private-issue system that existed before the Commonwealth took full control of note issuance in 1910. No issued examples of this £100 are believed to have survived, making specimens the only remaining documentation of the type. ... Read more →

New Zealand 1907–1926 - Bank of New Zealand £20 Blue Serial-Prefix Audit Specimen (Pick S194s)

A unique high-denomination Bradbury Wilkinson audit-range specimen and the rarest surviving document from New Zealand’s private-banknote era, the £20 Blue (Pick S194s) represents the apex of BNZ’s color-coded denomination hierarchy. This specimen is not a generic zero-serial example: it carries dual live serials (No. 061001 and No. ... Read more →

Australia 1877 - City of Melbourne Bank Limited £20 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

A unique surviving specimen of the £20 denomination issued by the City of Melbourne Bank Limited, representing one of the highest-value private banknotes produced in colonial Victoria. Printed from Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. master plates, this note belongs to the final generation of Australian private banknote engraving before national standardization and the destruction of nearly all high-denomination material. ... Read more →

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

This Portrait of Woman intaglio vignette proof is a Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company printer’s library master associated with the portrait used on the City of Melbourne Bank Limited 20 Pounds specimen of 1877. It preserves the female portrait as a stand-alone engraved design element, before its integration into the complete colonial Australian banknote composition. The vignette is executed in oval format, with the sitter shown in a composed three-quarter portrait. ... Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Złotych Front Proof (Pick 175ap1)

The definitive front proof of the 1994 50 Złotych issue, this sheet represents the final approved obverse design prepared by Thomas De La Rue for Narodowy Bank Polski during Poland’s post-communist monetary reform. Executed as an internal production proof, it preserves the complete engraved obverse exactly as authorized for issue, prior to serial numbering and reverse printing. The design features the portrait of King Kazimierz III Wielki (Casimir the Great), rendered in De La Rue’s modern intaglio style and integrated into a complex guilloche framework reflecting European security-printing standards of the early 1990s. ... Read more →

Australia 1877 - Mercantile Bank of Sydney £1 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

A superb Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. specimen from the early colonial banking era, this £1 note for the Mercantile Bank of Sydney survives today as the only documented example of its type. Certified PMG 66 EPQ Gem Uncirculated and recorded as Pop 1, it represents a unique surviving specimen of a private Australian bank whose issues rarely appear in any form. ... Read more →

Australia 1879–1903 - Federal Bank of Australia, Limited £1 Sydney Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This specimen represents a one pound note prepared for the Federal Bank of Australia, Limited and printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company in London during the bank’s short operational life between 1879 and 1903. The note carries the Sydney office imprint, identifying the colonial financial center where the issue was intended to circulate. It belongs to one of the most fragile and least documented chapters of Australia’s pre-Federation private banking era, when numerous colonial banks issued their own paper currency under uneven regulation and volatile economic conditions. ... Read more →

Poland 1926 - 10 Złotych Remainder Bolesław Chrobry 992–1025 Watermark (Pick 65br)

This banknote is a remainder from the 10 złotych issue of Bank Polski dated 20 July 1926, printed on paper carrying a portrait watermark of Bolesław Chrobry together with the dates of his reign, 992–1025. In standard catalog references, this material is recorded as Pick 65br and represents the remainder counterpart to the issued type Pick 65b, sharing the same paper and watermark characteristics. The portrait watermark featuring Poland’s first crowned king was introduced within a specific historical and symbolic framework. ... Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Discovery AR Prefix Approval Specimen Without Overprints (Pick Unlisted)

Discovery AR-prefix approval specimen of the 50 Zlotych banknote from the 1994 Polish issue, bearing serial number AR0000000. This piece documents a previously unrecorded physical approval-stage prefix for the 1994 50 Zlotych issue and establishes the AR prefix as discovery material within the production and approval record of the series. The face preserves the complete final production design prepared for the National Bank of Poland. ... Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Discovery AR Prefix Specimen with Red Overprint and Oval Stamp (Pick Unlisted)

Discovery AR-prefix red-overprint specimen of the 50 Zlotych banknote from the 1994 Polish issue, bearing serial number AR0000000. This piece documents an AR-prefix specimen form with red SPECIMEN overprint, red oval NO VALUE stamps, punch cancellations, and De La Rue specimen-control number 005 in the lower tracking panel. It is not recorded in Milczak or Pick and belongs to the same discovery-level AR-prefix production group as the AR approval specimen. ... Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Discovery AR Prefix Specimen Perforated SPECIMEN OF NO VALUE (Pick Unlisted)

Discovery AR-prefix perforated specimen of the 50 Zlotych banknote from the 1994 Polish issue, bearing serial number AR0000000 and cancelled by a large perforated inscription reading "SPECIMEN OF NO VALUE." This piece documents an AR-prefix perforated specimen form not recorded in Milczak or Pick and belongs to the same discovery-level AR-prefix production group as the AR approval specimen and AR red-overprint specimen. The face preserves the complete final production design prepared for the National Bank of Poland. It shows the portrait of King Casimir III the Great, the Polish eagle, the vertical denomination text "PIECDZIESIAT ZLOTYCH," the large vertical 50 value device, the National Bank of Poland title, the Warsaw date of 25 March 1994, and the printed signatures of Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz and Wieslaw Biernatowicz. ... Read more →

Italy 1871–1872 - Banca Italo-Germanica 250 Lire Specimen (Pick S976s)

An exceptional and academically important survival from the experimental phase of Italy’s early post-unification banking era, this 250 Lire specimen from the short-lived Banca Italo-Germanica, cataloged as Pick S976s, represents one of the rarest and most ambitious private note-issuing projects attempted in Rome during the 1870s. No issued examples of this type are known to exist, and all scholarship indicates that the bank’s banknote program collapsed before any notes entered circulation, leaving only a microscopic number of presentation pulls, proofs, or internal printer’s archive sheets. This PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated example is the sole graded specimen in the PMG census, making it both Top Pop and Only Pop. ... Read more →