Collection PL

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 →

United States 1933 - Any City, U.S.A. 5 Dollars City and County Scrip Specimen (Generic Municipal Master Form)

This specimen represents a generic City and County municipal scrip master form, dated Series of 1933 and denominated Five Dollars, produced during the most acute phase of the Great Depression. Explicitly designated for use by ANY CITY, U.S.A., the instrument was not issued by a specific municipality but instead functioned as a standardized template intended for rapid adoption by multiple cities and counties facing severe liquidity collapse. During the banking crisis of 1933, municipalities across the United States encountered simultaneous failures of cash circulation, delayed tax receipts, and restricted access to credit markets. ... Read more →

United States 1934 - New Jersey 10 Dollars County of Atlantic School Scrip Specimen (November 1 Issue)

This specimen represents an official county-level school tax scrip issued by the County of Atlantic, New Jersey, dated November 1, 1934, and denominated Ten Dollars. It belongs to a category of legally authorized educational finance instruments created during the Great Depression, when counties were confronted with the collapse of normal revenue flows and were forced to adopt extraordinary measures to sustain public schooling. Unlike informal emergency substitutes or privately issued local notes, this instrument was grounded in a defined statutory and administrative framework. ... Read more →

South Africa 1861 - Montagu Bank 5 Pounds Remainder (Pick S231r)

This note is an unissued remainder of the Montagu Bank five pounds denomination, produced in the early 1860s during the brief operational life of one of the Cape Colony’s most distinctive private commercial banks. As the highest denomination authorized by the Montagu Bank, the five pounds issue occupied the uppermost tier of the institution’s monetary structure and was intended for large commercial settlements, capital transactions, and internal accounting rather than routine daily exchange. The Montagu Bank was established in 1861 at a time when local banking was widely regarded as essential to trade and economic development within the Cape Colony. ... 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 →

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 1 Pound Proof with Specimen Perforation (Pick 306p)

This 1929 Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound proof belongs to the Northern Ireland Issue period, when commercial banks in Northern Ireland continued the older Irish and British private-bank note tradition under a sterling monetary system. The note is cataloged as Pick 306p and represents proof-stage material for an Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound design prepared after partition, when Belfast had become the central geographic identity for the bank’s Northern Ireland note issue. Unlike a state treasury or central-bank note, this design presents the obligation of a commercial bank. ... Read more →

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

This large-format Ulster Bank Limited watermarked security paper preserves the bank-name watermark used for private banknote production in the Northern Ireland issue period. The sheet belongs to the broader Ulster Bank Limited security-paper and proof-production environment associated with the 1929-1934 issue group, while its identity is defined by the watermark itself: Ulster Bank Limited. The paper is a production artifact in its own right. ... Read more →

Ireland - Northern 1940 - Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound Issued Note (Pick 306)

This 1940 Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound issued note is part of the Northern Ireland Issue tradition of commercial-bank sterling notes. Dated Belfast, 1st January 1940, and bearing serial number A152102, the note represents the fully issued form of the Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound design, with completed date, serial numbering, officer signatures, and payable promise text. The face design carries the strong private-bank identity of Ulster Bank Limited. ... Read more →