Collection PL

Poland 1933 - 25 Zlotych Investment Fund Voucher, Series I Bon Funduszu Inwestycyjnego (Lucow 732)

The vouchers (bony funduszu inwestycyjnego) functioned as state debt instruments, essentially IOUs of the Treasury. They were non-interest bearing, but widely accepted for the payment of taxes, customs duties, and official fees owed to the state. To encourage their use, the government held weekly drawings in which selected bond numbers were repurchased at four times face value, meaning that a 25 zł voucher could be redeemed for 100 zł if chosen. This combination of fiscal utility and lottery incentive gave the notes a dual role as both practical and speculative instruments in the interwar economy. Read more →

Austria 1800 - Wiener Stadt Banco 5 Gulden Issued Note (Pick A33)

Surviving examples of the 5 Gulden are notably scarcer than lower denominations. Notes of this value were more frequently accumulated, redeemed, or withdrawn during successive monetary reforms and episodes of depreciation that characterized the Banco-Zettel era. As a result, the 5 Gulden stands as an important documentary witness to the practical operation, administrative logic, and eventual contraction of Austria’s earliest paper-money system at the turn of the nineteenth century. Read more →

Uruguay 1862 - Banco de Londres y Rio de la Plata 100 Pesos Remainder (Pick S245r)

Few notes capture the working side of 19th-century banknote production like this 1862 100 Pesos remainder. Printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. for the Banco de Londres y Rio de la Plata but never signed or issued, it remains an untouched example of Uruguay’s first major British-engraved currency design. No cancellations, no serials-just the raw presswork as it left London more than 160 years ago. Read more →

Uruguay 1872 - P. Valdez & Co., Tacuarembo 10 Centesimos Unissued (Pick Unlisted)

These merchant notes are among the earliest recorded private issues in Uruguay’s interior. They demonstrate how individual entrepreneurs like Valdez sustained local trade when official currency failed to reach the frontier economy. Read more →

Uruguay 1872 - P. Valdez & Co., Tacuarembo 20 Centesimos Unissued (Pick Unlisted)

Design: single-sided brown lithograph with a neoclassical vignette of two youths carrying a sickle and sheaf of grain, symbolizing cooperation and labor. The value VEINTE CENTESIMOS appears within rosettes marked 20; the Bauer imprint sits at base. The wide left margin and binding perforations show that these were bound in counterfoil books for controlled issue. The note measures roughly 141 by 57 mm, matching the size data preserved in Uruguayan references. Read more →

United States 1863 - Bank of the State of South Carolina 10c and 15c Uncut Sheet of 3

Design and printing: blue printed denominations with the state palmetto emblem at center and manuscript signatures at bottom. The back carries the red legend Issued under Act February 1863 on each position. Lithographed in Charleston by Walker, Evans and Cogswell, the leading state security printer of the period. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 2004 - Northern Bank £50 Specimen NR126 (Pick Unlisted)

Historically, this specimen represents the final appearance of the pre-robbery layout: De La Rue’s guilloché and microtext design with latent numerals, holographic foil stripe, and complex underprint-hallmarks of early twenty-first-century security printing. Survivors are scarce and serve as reference material for the transition between the withdrawn 2004 and the replacement 2005 series. Graded PMG 63 Choice Uncirculated. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 2005 - Northern Bank £50 Specimen NR131 (Pick 208s)

The 2005 issue represented a complete visual break from the withdrawn 2004 design while maintaining the same core portrait of industrialist Sir Samuel C. Davidson (1846-1921). De La Rue tightened security features and color tones to ensure easy differentiation from recalled notes: enhanced microtext, modified guilloché, and a distinct purple-brown palette. These adjustments were introduced to reassure the public that new Northern Bank currency could be fully trusted after the robbery. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 2005 - Northern Bank £50 Issued Note NR131 (Pick 208)

Issued on 11 January 2005, the note restored public confidence and re-established Northern Bank’s reputation. Its features include raised intaglio printing, microtext, color-shifting ink on the denomination, and latent imagery derived from the bank’s industrial heritage-Davidson’s portrait at right and his Sirocco Works turbine machinery at left. The purple and copper palette intentionally departed from the 2004 issue to ensure visual distinction. Read more →

Ireland - Northern 2005 - Northern Bank £50 Replacement Prefix YY (Pick 208)

Replacement note for the 2005 Northern Bank £50 issue, printed by Thomas De La Rue, bearing the distinct 'YY' prefix used exclusively for replacement sheets following the 2004 Belfast vault robbery. These notes were part of the emergency replacement program that saw all pre-robbery stock withdrawn and destroyed, with new serial ranges produced under enhanced security oversight. Read more →

Uruguay 1939 - Banco de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay 50 Pesos Perforated SIN VALOR Specimen with Specimen Number 000235 (Pick 38s)

Importance: concludes Uruguay's classic engraved era before wartime simplification. The perforated 'SIN VALOR' variant with specimen numbering is scarcer than the pure overprint type and directly documents the printer’s internal cancellation and tracking system for specimen retention. Read more →

Uruguay 1870 - Republica Oriental del Uruguay 1 Peso, Junta de Credito Publico (Illegible Signature Variant, Serial 710157)

This example shows dark cancellation smears typical of notes redeemed by the Treasury between 1874 and 1876 when the Junta’s issues were withdrawn. Despite the cancellation, traces of the original pen signature confirm manual validation. Cataloged within the same series as Pick A110a, it demonstrates autograph variety among the earliest 1 Peso emissions and forms a pair with Serial 017385, showing how hand processing preceded printed signatures later in the decade. Read more →