Collection PL

Paraguay 1907 - Banco de la República 5 Pesos Issued Note (Pick 156)

The issued Pick 156 also provides the clearest visual comparison for the 1912 overprinted notes. On the single-side Pick 127 issue, the face overprint crosses the central portrait and title, visibly placing state authority over the original banknote. On the dual-side Pick Unlisted variety, the reverse overprint adds the Departamento de Hacienda and Junta Fiscalizadora layer and repeats the “Cincuenta Centavos Oro Sellado” value formula. Without the issued note, those later interventions can be misunderstood as isolated markings. With the issued note present, the full sequence becomes clear: Paraguay first had a refined Banco de la República note, then turned surviving stock into emergency state currency, and in special cases added further Treasury control. Read more →

Barbados 1968 - Bank of Barbados 5 Dollars Prefix AA Front and Back Archival Photograph (Pick Unlisted)

Paper Money Guaranty identifies the pieces as Front Archival Photograph and Back Archival Photograph and classifies them as Pick Unlisted. The photographs are not legal tender, were never issued for circulation, and do not represent specimens of a released Barbados banknote type. Instead, they survive as primary-source production records from the design history of modern Barbados paper money. Read more →

China 1949 - People's Bank of China 100 Yuan Red Ship Unnumbered Multi-Layer Alignment Trial with Inverted 1948 100 Yuan Underprint (Pick Unlisted)

This 1949 100 Yuan Red Ship alignment trial from the People's Bank of China belongs to the production history of the First Series Renminbi, the founding paper-money issue of the early People's Republic of China. The issued Red Ship note is cataloged as Pick 831b, while this piece is Pick Unlisted because it survives in an unfinished production-stage format, without serial numbers or final trimming and with oversized margins and printer guide marks. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 1929 - Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound Uncut Sheet of 3 Proofs with Specimen Perforation (Pick Unlisted)

This Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound uncut sheet of 3 proofs belongs to the Northern Ireland Issue design group of 1929-1934 and survives in a format not represented by the standard single-note Pick listing. It is cataloged here as Pick Unlisted, while the individual proof design is associated with Pick 306p. The sheet preserves three proof impressions before separation, making it a broad production artifact rather than a single cut proof. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 1929 - Ulster Bank Limited Large-Format Watermarked Security Paper

Ulster Bank Limited belonged to the private banknote tradition of Ireland and Northern Ireland, where commercial banks continued to issue their own notes under regulated authority. Watermarked paper was a central security element within that system, tying the physical sheet to the issuing bank before the printed note design was added. The use of the bank name directly in the watermark reflects the institutional identity of the paper and the controlled production chain behind private banknote issue. Read more →

Scotland 1962 - National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited 5 Pounds Photographic Back Proof, Edinburgh Castle Design (Pick Unlisted)

This 1962 National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited 5 Pounds photographic back proof preserves the Edinburgh Castle reverse design that belongs to the visual development of the bank's early 1960s 5 Pounds issue. The proof is cataloged here as Pick Unlisted and stands as a separate production artifact for the reverse side of the design, centered on Scotland's capital rather than on the legal and textual structure of the face. Read more →

Scotland 1962 - National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited 5 Pounds Photographic Back Proof, Landscape Design (Pick Unlisted)

This 1962 National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited 5 Pounds photographic back proof preserves a separate landscape reverse concept from the same design period. Cataloged here as Pick Unlisted, it records a proposed scenic direction for the bank's 5 Pounds reverse, with the design organized around countryside, water, trees, distant hills, and open Scottish terrain. Read more →

Australia 1965 - Commercial Banking Company of Sydney 20 Dollars Travellers Cheque Photographic Proof (Pick Unlisted)

The cardstock mounting and grading label identify the piece as a photographic proof rather than a colour specimen proof. Its value lies in the way it isolates the engraved design and preserves the proof-room review state of the 20 Dollars denomination. The image shows the full cheque design with its central security field, Australia map device, scripted payable line, and placement guides for operational cheque use, documenting how Bradbury Wilkinson and Company evaluated the composition before the design direction moved forward into later revision stages. Read more →

Australia 1965 - Commercial Banking Company of Sydney 50 Dollars Travellers Cheque Photographic Proof (Pick Unlisted)

The proof reproduces the 50 Dollars design in monochrome, allowing the engraved structure and tonal balance of the top denomination to be studied without the full rose and pink colour scheme. The design shows the large corner denomination tablets, strong rectangular border, C.B.C. Travellers' Cheque title panel, central bank-name field, scripted amount line, drawer's signature area, and the repeated security underprint across the background. The central Australia map device and circular bank medallion remain visible beneath the main typography, preserving the shared visual language of the 10 Dollars, 20 Dollars, and 50 Dollars series. Read more →

Australia 1965 - Commercial Banking Company of Sydney 50 Dollars Travellers Cheque Approval-Stage Photographic Proof (Pick Unlisted)

The single round control punch is one of the most important physical details on this proof. Photographic proofs of this type normally function as mounted review images, yet this 15 June 1965 proof carries a punch through the cheque image at the drawer's signature area. That treatment aligns it with the formal proof-room handling seen on the submitted colour design proofs and separates it from the earlier 1 April 1965 50 Dollars photographic proof, which records the first photographic review state. The punch therefore serves as a stage marker, showing that this June proof had moved beyond simple photographic review into the approval-stage handling of the corrected design. Read more →

Great Britain 1922 - Thomas Cook and Son 5 Pounds Travellers Cheque Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Specimen of the 5 Pounds Travellers Cheque prepared for Thomas Cook and Son during the early 1920s, representing the finished specimen-stage form of one of the most recognizable private travel-payment instruments of the interwar period. Printed in a rich brown security design and marked with red specimen and cancellation wording, this cheque preserves the operational format used by Thomas Cook and Son for secure international travel finance after the First World War. Read more →

Great Britain 1919 - Thomas Cook and Son 5 Pounds Circular Note Photographic Proof (Pick Unlisted)

This 5 Pounds Circular Note proof is a discovery-level survivor within the history of Thomas Cook and Son's private financial instruments. Its importance lies not only in its individual rarity, but in its place within a wider linked sequence of circular note and later traveller-payment material. When viewed beside the 1904 50 Dollars circular note proof, the alternate 1919 5 Pounds proof, and the later 1922 5 Pounds traveller-payment proof and specimen, it helps document the evolution of secure portable money for international travel from Edwardian circular notes into the mature twentieth-century travel-payment system. Read more →