Collection PL

Australia 1877 — Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Portrait of Woman Intaglio Vignette Proof (Printer’s Library Master)

This intaglio vignette proof represents an original portrait engraving produced by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company in London in 1877, prepared as a master design element within the firm’s internal plate library. It depicts a classical female figure engraved as a stand-alone vignette, intended for later integration into complete banknote layouts commissioned by private banks across the British Empire, including Australian colonial institutions. In the Bradbury Wilkinson production workflow of the late nineteenth century, portrait vignettes were engraved independently of any specific banknote. ... Read more →

Australia 1879–1903 — Federal Bank of Australia, Limited £1 Sydney Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This specimen represents a one pound note prepared for the Federal Bank of Australia, Limited and printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company in London during the bank’s short operational life between 1879 and 1903. The note carries the Sydney office imprint, identifying the colonial financial center where the issue was intended to circulate. It belongs to one of the most fragile and least documented chapters of Australia’s pre-Federation private banking era, when numerous colonial banks issued their own paper currency under uneven regulation and volatile economic conditions. ... Read more →

Ireland 1920 — Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound Proof (Pick 388p / UB39)

This 1920 Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound proof is a completed proof-stage example of one of the most visually distinctive private-bank issues from Ireland before partition. Dated Belfast, 1st June 1920, and bearing serial number A 00,005, the note belongs to the Ireland category rather than the later Northern Ireland issue structure. Its PMG classification as Proof, together with the Pick 388p and UB39 references, places it among the specialized archival forms of Ulster Bank Limited's early twentieth-century note production. ... Read more →

United States 1854 — Empire City Bank 100 Dollars Proof (Pick NY1585G16P)

This note represents a proof of the one hundred dollars denomination prepared for the Empire City Bank of New York during the final year of the institution’s operation. It was produced as part of the internal design approval and engraving review process and was never intended for public circulation. As such, it belongs to the documentary layer of American private banknote production rather than to issued or remainder currency. ... Read more →