Collection PL

United States 1935 - New Jersey 1 Dollar Borough of Palmyra Municipal Scrip Specimen (General Obligation)

This example is a true printer-issued specimen, identified by the serial number A 0000 and the overprinted word SPECIMEN. It was not intended for circulation and was produced solely for authorization, approval, or archival reference during the establishment or continuation of the issue. The reverse is dominated by a large, complex radial guilloche medallion, a professional anti-counterfeiting feature consistent with established security printing standards rather than local or improvised production. Read more →

United States 1934 - New Jersey 1 Dollar City of Asbury Park Tax Anticipation Note Recovery Bond Specimen (March 31 Issue)

Tax anticipation notes were legally authorized short-term obligations designed to transform expected tax receipts into immediate operating funds. In early 1934, Asbury Park employed this mechanism to sustain daily municipal functions and preserve fiscal continuity while awaiting the collection of property and other local taxes. The issue was authorized pursuant to Chapter 192 of the Laws of 1917 of the State of New Jersey, as amended, placing it within an established statutory framework rather than emergency improvisation. Read more →

United States 1934 - New Jersey 5 Dollars City of Asbury Park Tax Anticipation Note Recovery Bond Specimen (March 31 Issue)

The text further certifies that the total amount authorized to be borrowed by the city through tax anticipation notes under the governing statute was three hundred sixty thousand dollars, and that the amount outstanding, including this issue, did not exceed that statutory ceiling. It also affirms compliance with all constitutional and statutory debt limitations, a declaration intended to preserve confidence at a time when municipal defaults were widespread and public trust in local finance was fragile. Read more →

United States 1934 - New Jersey 10 Dollars City of Asbury Park Tax Anticipation Note Recovery Bond Specimen (March 31 Issue)

This specimen represents an official municipal tax anticipation note issued by the City of Asbury Park, New Jersey, dated March 31, 1934, and denominated Ten Dollars. Explicitly titled TAX ANTICIPATION NOTE OF 1934 and further identified on the design as a RECOVERY BOND, the instrument belongs to a class of short-term municipal obligations created during the most acute phase of the Great Depression, when local governments faced severe cash shortages and collapsing revenue streams. Read more →

United States 1933 - State of Delaware 50 Cents Tax Paid on Half Barrel of Beer Uncut Specimen Strip of Five

The presence of punch cancellations across each stamp is a critical physical indicator of specimen status. These punches were not part of normal field use but were applied deliberately to invalidate the stamps and prevent their diversion into the taxation stream. Horizontal perforation lines separate the stamps, confirming that the design was intended for individual separation and application during actual use. The reverse is blank, as printed, consistent with adhesive fiscal stamps designed to be affixed to containers or accompanying documentation. Read more →

United States 1844 - Bank of Florida - Tallahassee 4 Dollars, State Bank Note, Final Revival Issue, FL-65-G26

The revival effort proved short-lived. Contemporary documentation and later numismatic research confirm that the Bank of Florida ceased operations again within approximately one year of resuming activity. This narrow issuance window imposes a hard historical ceiling on the quantity of notes that could have entered circulation, creating a structurally closed population for surviving issued examples. Read more →

Lower Canada 1837 - Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad - 15 Sous, Quarter Dollar, Half Dollar (Full Uncut Dual Series Sheet)

The sheet is composed of six notes arranged in a structured dual-series format across a single full printing layout. Three denominations are present-fifteen sous, quarter dollar, and half dollar-with two examples of each denomination. Each denomination appears once in the A series and once in the B series, forming a mirrored arrangement: the left half of the sheet represents the B series, while the right half represents the A series. This results in six notes in total, with each denomination paired across both series. Read more →

Spain 1875 - Banco de España 50 Pesetas Contemporary Counterfeit (Pick 7x)

This note represents a contemporary counterfeit of the Banco de España fifty pesetas issue of 1875, produced during the active circulation period of the official banknote and intended to pass as legal tender in everyday commerce. Classified in standard references as Pick 7x, it is a period forgery rather than a later reproduction or fantasy piece, created using materials and printing methods consistent with nineteenth-century Spanish monetary circulation. Read more →

Spain 1876 - Banco de España 100 Pesetas Contemporary Counterfeit (Pick 11x)

The counterfeit closely imitates the official Banco de España design, including engraved portraits, allegorical figures, ornamental frames, and serial numbering conventions. While visually convincing, detailed examination reveals deviations in engraving sharpness, line structure, and execution that distinguish the note from official production. These characteristics are consistent with contemporary forgery practices rather than later reproductions. Read more →

South Africa 1828 - Cape of Good Hope Bank 5 Shillings Pre-Issue Sample (Pick S171p)

The Cape of Good Hope Bank occupies a unique position in South African monetary history. While earlier banking activity existed under Dutch East India Company administration, including the state-controlled Lombard Bank established in 1793, the Cape of Good Hope Bank was the first true private commercial bank in southern Africa. Its eventual opening in 1837 marked a decisive transition from state-issued colonial notes toward privately organized banking and credit formation within the Cape economy. Read more →

South Africa 1861 - Montagu Bank 5 Pounds Remainder (Pick S231r)

The Montagu Bank was established in 1861 at a time when local banking was widely regarded as essential to trade and economic development within the Cape Colony. Contemporary accounts note that by the late nineteenth century more than thirty such local banks operated across the colony, each issuing its own paper currency. Montagu was among the smaller but more ambitious of these institutions, notable not only for issuing its own banknotes but for embedding itself physically and socially within the town’s commercial core. Read more →

Uruguay 1939 - Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay 1000 Pesos Specimen, Printed Cancel, Serie D, Specimen No. 23 (Pick 41cs)

The obverse is dominated by the full institutional title REPUBLICA ORIENTAL DEL URUGUAY, placed above the monumental denomination MIL PESOS. To the right appears a finely engraved portrait of Jose Gervasio Artigas, shown in military dress with a strong frontal expression. Artigas serves here as more than a commemorative portrait. His presence places the authority of the banknote within Uruguay's national foundation, linking the monetary promise of the state with the country's principal independence figure. Read more →