Collection PL

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 100 Reales Vellón Serie A Issued Note No. 23322 (Pick S451b)

A fully issued Serie A example of the Banco de Zaragoza 100 reales vellón dated 1 May 1857, serial number 23322. This is a true issued banknote classified as Pick S451b, not a remainder or specimen. Issued Zaragoza notes from 1857 are among the rarest Spanish provincial banknotes, with only two S451b examples recorded by PMG to date and very few known in private or institutional collections. ... Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 500 Reales Vellón Serie C Issued Note No. 08785 (Pick S453a)

A fully issued 500 reales vellón banknote from Banco de Zaragoza dated 14 May 1857, Serie C, serial number 08785. Classified as Pick S453a, this is the circulation-authorized form of the denomination. Issued Zaragoza notes of this type are among the rarest survivors of Spain’s provincial banking era; nearly all original circulation was redeemed and destroyed during the consolidation of banknote issuance in the latter 19th century. ... Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 200 Reales Vellón Serie B Issued Note No. 07958 (Pick S4532s)

A specimen of the Banco de Zaragoza 200 reales vellón dated 14 May 1857, Serie B, serial number 07958, classified as Pick S452s. This is the standard specimen format as preserved for printer archives and official reference, fully complete in its intended banknote form. The Madrid-school engraving includes the Spanish coat of arms, detailed acanthus ornaments, and formal promise text characteristic of Zaragoza's mid-19th century private-bank issues. ... Read more →

Argentina 1869 - Banco Domingo Garbino, 5 Pesos Fuertes Issued Note with Red Overprint (Pick S1803)

Issued 5 Pesos Fuertes note of Banco Domingo Garbino, printed by the American Bank Note Company (Compañía Americana de Billetes de Banco Nueva York) and formally activated for circulation through the large diagonal red overprint “DOMINGO GARBINO.” This overprint was not decorative nor optional: it was the legal validation required to transform the bank’s remainder stock (Pick S1792r) into fully issued, signed, numbered, and payable currency. For this reason, Pick S1803 represents the only surviving issued form of the Garbino 5 Pesos Fuertes denomination. The base printing displays ABNC’s early post-Civil-War engraving style: a vigilant dog guarding a strongbox at top center, allegorical female portraits representing rural labor and domestic virtue, and deep green lathe-work executed with the precision that made ABNC the dominant security printer in the Americas. ... Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 2000 Reales Vellón Serie E Issued Note No. 00589 (Pick S455)

An extraordinarily rare issued 2000 reales vellón banknote from the Banco de Zaragoza dated 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial number 00589. Classified as Pick S455, this note represents the highest denomination placed into active circulation by the bank. Very few issued examples of any Banco de Zaragoza notes survive, and among these, the 2000 reales denomination is one of the most elusive. ... Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 2000 Reales Vellón Serie E Issued Note No. 00500 (Pick S455)

A fully issued 2000 reales vellón banknote from the Banco de Zaragoza dated 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial number 00500. Classified under Pick S455, this note represents the highest denomination from Zaragoza known to have entered active circulation. Its survival is an exceptional anomaly: most high-value private-bank issues from this period were redeemed rapidly and destroyed, leaving only a microscopic population of true circulation-authorized notes. ... Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 2000 Reales Vellón Serie E Issued Note No. 00286 (Pick S455)

A genuinely rare issued 2000 reales vellón banknote of the Banco de Zaragoza, dated Zaragoza, 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial number 00286. Catalogued as Pick S455, this denomination represents the upper tier of the bank’s circulating emissions and belongs to a class of notes that were produced in limited quantities and almost entirely redeemed and destroyed. The Banco de Zaragoza was one of the provincial banks authorised to issue paper currency during Spain’s short-lived liberal banking period following the 1856 banking reforms. ... Read more →

Spain 1857 - Banco de Zaragoza 2000 Reales Vellón Serie E Issued Consecutive Pair No. 00031–00032 (Pick S455)

An exceptional issued consecutive pair of 2000 reales vellón banknotes from the Banco de Zaragoza, dated Zaragoza, 14 May 1857, Serie E, serial numbers 00031 and 00032. Catalogued as Pick S455, this pair represents one of the earliest surviving serial groupings of the highest denomination issued by the bank and illustrates the original form in which such notes were placed into circulation. The Banco de Zaragoza operated during Spain’s brief liberal banking period following the 1856 reforms, when select provincial banks were authorised to issue their own circulating paper currency. ... 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. Currency issued by the Soviet Red Army Headquarters functioned within a command-level financial structure designed to support military logistics, civilian transactions, and administrative continuity in occupied territory. ... Read more →

Martinique 1870 - Banque de la Martinique 1 Franc Unissued Cheque (Pick P.5A)

An unissued cheque for one franc prepared for the Banque de la Martinique and intended for use at Saint-Pierre, dating from the early period of organized colonial banking on the island. Classified as Pick P.5A, this form represents a non-circulating banking instrument rather than a circulating banknote, designed for internal settlement, account debiting, and controlled monetary transfers within the colonial financial system. The Banque de la Martinique was established as part of France’s overseas banking framework, created to stabilize currency supply and facilitate commercial credit in the Caribbean colonies. ... Read more →

Martinique 1870 - Banque de la Martinique 1 Franc Cheque Recovered After the 1902 Mount Pelée Eruption (Pick P.5A)

A Banque de la Martinique one franc cheque form, Pick P.5A, originally printed for use at Saint-Pierre during the late nineteenth century and later recovered from the ruins of the city following the catastrophic eruption of Mount Pelée on 8 May 1902. Although printed decades earlier as part of the bank’s standardized cheque issue, this surviving example was never negotiated as a financial instrument and instead entered history as a disaster-recovery relic, explicitly identified as such by contemporary handwritten annotations. The printed face follows the established Banque de la Martinique cheque format, bearing the heading “Chèque sur la Banque de la Martinique,” internal control marking “B.P.F. ... Read more →

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

A Portuguese royal-era public debt instrument issued in Lisboa in 1799 under the authority of the Real Erario, denominated 20000 reis and payable to bearer. This document is an apólice, a formal treasury obligation representing state-backed debt issued during a period of administrative continuity in late eighteenth-century Portugal, prior to the political and fiscal disruptions of the nineteenth century. This example belongs to the original issue phase of Portuguese treasury apólices and predates the period commonly associated with the War of the Brothers. ... Read more →