Collection PL

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

That commercial strategy was reinforced at the institutional level. Prominent Chinese-Australian businessmen Lowe Kong Meng and Louis Ah Mouy were involved with the Commercial Bank of Australia from its foundation in 1866 and were among its important early shareholders, with both serving on the provisional committee. Kong Meng was one of colonial Victoria’s wealthiest merchants and Ah Mouy a leading businessman and Chinese community figure. Historical research directly links their involvement, and the bank’s Chinese inscriptions, with the desire to attract Chinese depositors and Chinese commercial business. The Commercial Bank therefore did more than acknowledge Victoria’s Chinese population: it incorporated Chinese recognition into the financial instrument itself as a competitive point of difference.

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.

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

This engraved Portrait of Woman intaglio vignette was produced by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., London, and is directly connected to the City of Melbourne Bank Limited 20 Pounds specimen of 1877, where the same portrait appears as the principal vignette within the large ornamental panel at left. The proof preserves that portrait as a stand-alone engraved component before its integration into the complete banknote design.

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

The portrait watermark featuring Poland’s first crowned king was introduced within a specific historical and symbolic framework. Its adoption followed the nationwide commemorations of 1925, marking the 900th anniversary of Bolesław Chrobry’s coronation and death. Within the visual language of the Second Polish Republic, the motif formed part of a broader state program that deliberately embedded national history into monetary design, paralleling similar iconographic choices in contemporary coinage.