Collection PL

Poland 1940 - 10 Zlotych Bank Emisyjny w Polsce Prefix C Kraków Issue Approval Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

The confirmation of Chopin’s portrait at the approval stage is structurally significant. By finalizing his image within the authorized design, the issuing authority embedded a cultural reference directly into the framework of the new monetary system without overt political signaling. Read more →

Poland 1940 - 20 Zlotych Bank Emisyjny w Polsce Prefix A Kraków Issue Approval Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This Prefix A approval specimen of the 20 Złotych issue documents the formal authorization stage of the occupation-era monetary system administered by Bank Emisyjny w Polsce. Dated Kraków, 1 March 1940, the note represents the fully accepted production standard from which circulation printing was initiated. It is a completed, signed, and institutionally approved banknote retained as a reference at the moment when monetary authority was translated into physical form. Read more →

China 1945 - Soviet Red Army Headquarters 100 Yuan Issued Note, Revalidated 1946 (Pick M36)

An issued 100 yuan banknote produced in 1945 under the authority of the Soviet Red Army Headquarters during the closing phase of the Second World War, later officially revalidated in 1946. Catalogued as Pick M36, this note forms part of the provisional monetary system established by Soviet military administration in northeastern China following the collapse of Japanese control in Manchuria. Read more →

Paraguay 1907 - Banco de la República 5 Pesos with 1912 State Overprint (Pick 127, Base Pick 156)

The 5 Pesos denomination is especially useful for understanding the full logic of the 1912 revalidation process. The base note carries the monetary wording “Moneda Nacional ó Cincuenta Centavos Oro Sellado,” linking the paper denomination to a gold-referenced value formula. This phrase was already part of the 1907 design, but in 1912 it became more meaningful because the government was attempting to preserve official monetary order while ordinary paper confidence was under pressure. The state overprint did not create the gold-value clause; it placed state authority over a note that already carried it. Read more →

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

Unlike a state treasury or central-bank note, this design presents the obligation of a commercial bank. The face is built around the name Ulster Bank Limited, the promise-to-pay text, the Belfast place name, large denomination cartouches, and a maritime-industrial vignette that evokes commerce, shipping, and regional economic activity. The proof preserves that institutional language before the note entered ordinary issuing form, making it a document of private-bank monetary authority as much as a piece of security printing. Read more →