Collection PL

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 →

Poland 1994 - 50 Złotych Remainder (Pick 175ar Miłczak 198a–b)

Remainder of the 50 złotych note issued by Narodowy Bank Polski within the first fully modern banknote series of the Third Republic, dated 25 March 1994. This example represents production-stage material retained outside the finalized circulation workflow and is cataloged as Pick 175ar, corresponding to Miłczak 198a–b. The note preserves the complete printed design prepared by Thomas De La Rue, London, including the portrait of King Kazimierz III Wielki (Casimir the Great), the integrated guilloche structures, and the finalized denomination and emblematic layout of the modernized Polish currency system. ... 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 →

Uruguay 1872 - 100 Pesos = 10 Doblones Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

A printer’s archival specimen of the 1872 issue of the Banco de Londres y Rio de la Plata, denominated 100 Pesos Nacionales with an explicit equivalence to 10 Doblones in gold. This dual-denomination construction represents one of the most ambitious monetary experiments undertaken in nineteenth-century Uruguay, attempting to anchor paper currency directly to a fixed gold value at a time of persistent instability and public distrust in fiduciary issues. The note was produced in London by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. ... Read more →

Paraguay 1907 - 100 Pesos with 1912 Dual-Side State and Treasury Revalidation Overprint Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Archival specimen of the 1907 Banco de la República 100 Pesos, base Pick 159, printed by Waterlow & Sons, London, and later transformed by one of the most historically revealing emergency overprint configurations in Paraguayan paper money. The note bears the large face overprint “Emisión del Estado – 11 de Enero de 1912,” together with the reverse fiscal validation “Departamento de Hacienda – Junta Fiscalizadora – Diez Pesos Oro Sellado – Conforme Decreto de 20 de Mayo 1912.” This dual-side treatment places the note outside the ordinary single-face revalidation pattern and identifies it as a treasury-controlled specimen of exceptional documentary importance. The significance of the reverse overprint is especially important. ... Read more →

Australia 1905–1910 - Commercial Banking Company of Sydney LIMITED £5 Specimen Proof (Pick Unlisted)

Proof specimen printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. between 1905 and 1910 for the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney LIMITED - one of Australia’s oldest and most respected private banks, founded in 1834. The CBC operated independently until its 1981 merger with the National Bank of Australasia, forming today’s NAB. ... Read more →

Poland 1936 - 50 Zlotych Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (Pick 78a, Miłczak 77a–b)

The 50 Zlotych note dated 11 November 1936 with the portrait of General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski represents the highest artistic and symbolic achievement of Polish interwar banknote design. Conceived as the flagship denomination of a fully modernized Bank Polski series, it was intended to embody state continuity, national identity, and technical excellence at a moment when the Second Polish Republic had reached institutional maturity. The choice of date was deliberate. ... Read more →

New Zealand ND (1924-1933) - Bank of New South Wales Ten Shillings Proof, Perforated SPECIMEN (Pick S161s)

Printers archival proof for the Bank of New South Wales Ten Shillings, classified in the Standard Catalog and grading records as New Zealand Pick S161s (ND 1924-1933) and produced in London by Charles Skipper and East. This piece was never intended for circulation. It was created as part of the printers internal proofing, approval, and archival process and survives as a workshop original documenting the final approved design for a denomination that ultimately never entered public issue. ... Read more →

New Zealand ND (1924-1933) - Bank of New South Wales Ten Shillings Oversized Proof, Perforated SPECIMEN (Pick S161s)

Printers archival oversized proof for the Bank of New South Wales Ten Shillings, classified in the Standard Catalog and grading records as New Zealand Pick S161s (ND 1924-1933) and produced in London by Charles Skipper and East. This example survives on an oversized, untrimmed sheet and represents the most internal and earliest preserved production state of the design. Although cataloged under New Zealand, the design belongs to the broader Australasian operating structure of the Bank of New South Wales, a trans Tasman institution active in both Australia and New Zealand. ... Read more →

Mexico 1884 – Fábrica de Tunal 1 Peso (Pick Unlisted, ABNC)

One of the most sophisticated corporate issues produced in northern Mexico during the Porfiriato modernization period, this fully issued and serialed 1 Peso note from La Fábrica de Tunal represents a hybrid monetary instrument that straddled formal banknote design and private scrip functionality. Unlike the majority of locally lithographed corporate payroll chits of the 1880s, this piece was engraved and printed by the American Bank Note Company in New York-an extremely rare choice for a non-bank issuer and clear evidence of the company's scale and financial ambition. La Fábrica de Tunal operated in the rural industrial zone outside Durango city along the Tunal River, referenced repeatedly in contemporary mining, agricultural, and provincial reports. ... Read more →

Argentina 1881 - Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires 2 Pesos Oro Proof (Pick S536fp)

Superb proof engraving prepared by the American Bank Note Company for the Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, dated 19 de Enero de 1883. The design features an equestrian vignette at center symbolizing progress and vitality, flanked by portraits of Florencio Varela and Valentín Alsina, two influential figures in Argentina’s political and intellectual life. Printed directly from ABNC master plates in black ink on thin India paper and mounted on card stock, this piece confirms its pre-issue proof status. ... Read more →