Collection PL

United States 1872 – State of South Carolina $50 Revenue Bond Scrip Act of March 2 1872 Columbia Issue

The fifty-dollar Revenue Bond Scrip authorized by the Act of March 2, 1872, stands among the most elaborate and symbolically charged notes of Reconstruction-era South Carolina. Produced by the American Bank Note Company of New York, these notes were issued to pay state obligations and to function as tax receipts, serving as both a medium of exchange and an assertion of solvency during a turbulent postwar decade. The design balances artistry and propaganda. ... Read more →

United States 1902 – 20 Dollars Large Size Plain Back National Bank Note – The First National Bank of Taylorville, Illinois Charter 3579 (Fr.650-652)

Large-size 1902 Plain Back twenty from The First National Bank of Taylorville, Illinois, Charter 3579, a seldom-seen issuer that entered receivership on October 18, 1929 at the very start of the small-size era. Organized and chartered in October 1886, the bank operated for more than four decades, but its total national-currency output was modest for an Illinois institution and survivorship today is extremely thin. Face design shows Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch at left, blue charter numerals 3579, and the classic U.S. ... Read more →

United States 1929 - 5 Dollars Type 1 National Bank Note - The Thomas County National Bank of Colby, Kansas Charter 13076 (Friedberg 1800-1)

Circulated five-dollar note from The Thomas County National Bank of Colby, Kansas (Charter 13076), Series of 1929 Type 1. This example represents the true working currency of the Great Plains during the Depression years-money that passed through farms, shops, and local hands in northwest Kansas at a time when the nation’s economy was in flux. The note follows the standard small-size Type 1 national design with Abraham Lincoln’s engraved portrait at center, flanked by bold denomination counters and the brown Treasury seal at right. ... Read more →

Egypt 1918 - Banque Belge pour l’Étranger, Cairo Branch Issued Cheque

Original cheque issued by the Cairo branch of Banque Belge pour l'Étranger on 2 September 1918, produced during the final phase of the First World War. The form is printed on light cream security stock with a richly engraved Art Nouveau header. Along the left margin runs a vertical ornamental cartouche enclosing the bank’s interlocking monogram and the legend BANQUE BELGE POUR L'ÉTRANGER – LE CAIRE, framed by a list of the bank’s principal branches in BRUXELLES, LONDRES, ROTTERDAM, LE CAIRE, ALEXANDRIE, SHANGHAI, PEKIN and TIENTSIN. ... Read more →

Egypt 1910 - Riches & Mawas, Cairo–Alexandria–Tanta Commercial Draft for 1600 Piastres

Original 1910 commercial draft issued by Riches & Mawas, a prominent British–Levantine trading firm operating across Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta. The draft is printed on cream-toned security paper with a vertical deep-blue engraved ornamental panel at right. This panel features an elaborate baroque frame surrounding the intertwined R & M monogram, with the company’s three branch cities CAIRE, ALEXANDRIE, TANTA printed around the oval. ... Read more →

Egypt 1908 - Mohammed El Komi Carriage & Automobile Workshop Invoice

Original 1908 trade invoice from Mohammed El Komi, a Cairo-based carriage and early automobile workshop situated on Rue El Saha near the palace of Mazloum Pasha. The upper section features a finely lithographed header showing a side-profile illustration of a horse-drawn carriage with the driver seated at the front. Above the vignette, the workshop name 'MOHAMMED EL KOMI' appears in a bold curved arc. ... Read more →

Argentina 1869 - Banco Domingo Garbino, 5 Pesos Fuertes Issued Note with Red Overprint (Pick S1803)

Issued 5 Pesos Fuertes note of Banco Domingo Garbino, printed by the American Bank Note Company (Compañía Americana de Billetes de Banco Nueva York) and formally activated for circulation through the large diagonal red overprint “DOMINGO GARBINO.” This overprint was not decorative nor optional: it was the legal validation required to transform the bank’s remainder stock (Pick S1792r) into fully issued, signed, numbered, and payable currency. For this reason, Pick S1803 represents the only surviving issued form of the Garbino 5 Pesos Fuertes denomination. The base printing displays ABNC’s early post-Civil-War engraving style: a vigilant dog guarding a strongbox at top center, allegorical female portraits representing rural labor and domestic virtue, and deep green lathe-work executed with the precision that made ABNC the dominant security printer in the Americas. ... Read more →

Poland 1940 - 20 Złotych Bank Emisyjny w Polsce Prefix A Kraków Issue Approval Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This Prefix A approval specimen of the 20 Złotych issue documents the formal authorization stage of the occupation-era monetary system administered by Bank Emisyjny w Polsce. Dated Kraków, 1 March 1940, the note represents the fully accepted production standard from which circulation printing was initiated. It is a completed, signed, and institutionally approved banknote retained as a reference at the moment when monetary authority was translated into physical form. ... 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 →

New Caledonia 1871 - French Treasury Second of Exchange for 2,000 Francs (Service des Colonies)

A colonial treasury bill of exchange issued in 1871 under the authority of the French public treasury for the colony of New Caledonia. This document represents the second of exchange (*seconde*), forming part of a standard multi-part financial instrument employed by the French administration to execute high-value intercontinental payments within the colonial fiscal system. The bill was drawn by the *Caissier Payeur central du Trésor public (Service des Colonies)* and made payable to order in New Caledonia for the sum of two thousand francs. ... Read more →

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

The 5 Gulden note of 1800, issued by the Wiener Stadt Banco, occupies a pivotal position within Austria’s early fiduciary paper money system known as Banco-Zettel. Introduced in 1796, this system marked the Habsburg Monarchy’s first sustained attempt to replace metallic circulation with state-backed paper currency, driven by the severe fiscal pressures of continuous warfare and structural budget deficits at the end of the eighteenth century. Within the denomination hierarchy, 5 Gulden functioned as a true intermediary value. ... Read more →