Collection PL

Australia 1880–1910 - Commercial Bank of Australia £100 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

When the Commonwealth centralized currency authority in 1910 and later established the Australian Notes Branch (and eventually the Reserve Bank), nearly all private banknote issues were recalled and destroyed. As a result, only specimen or printer’s archival material survived for many denominations. For the £100 type, the absence of issued survivors underscores the near-total eradication of high-value private currency from the record. Read more →

New Zealand 1907–1926 - Bank of New Zealand £20 Blue Serial-Prefix Audit Specimen (Pick S194s)

The PMG 55 About Uncirculated grade is exceptionally high for a large-format, soft-paper audit specimen. With Pop 1/1 status and no evidence of any additional audit-range examples in institutional or private holdings, this piece stands as the definitive reference for the BNZ £20 issue and a cornerstone artifact of New Zealand’s pre–Reserve Bank monetary history. Read more →

Australia 1877 - City of Melbourne Bank Limited £20 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Certified PMG 62 Uncirculated, the note stands as a singular artifact of Australia’s private-banknote era. It represents the intersection of rarity, engraving excellence, and financial history, and qualifies unequivocally for classification as R9 - Unique. Read more →

New Zealand 1896 - Bank of Australasia £50 Christchurch Proof (Pick Unlisted)

This proof displays the fully engraved obverse design, including denomination roundels, the seated allegorical vignette at center, and the formal promise to pay the bearer on demand. The layout reflects mature Victorian security printing practice, balancing ornamental complexity with legibility and authority. The absence of serial numbering, signatures, and circulation elements confirms its status as a proof prepared for reference and institutional record rather than issue. Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Front Proof (Pick 175ap1)

The design features the portrait of King Kazimierz III Wielki (Casimir the Great), rendered in De La Rue’s modern intaglio style and integrated into a complex guilloche framework reflecting European security-printing standards of the early 1990s. Typography, denomination layout, panel geometry, color balance, and the finalized NBP emblem are all present in their definitive form. The printed date, 25 March 1994, anchors the proof within the official design-approval phase of the series. Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Remainder (Pick 175ar Miłczak 198a–b)

Remainder of the 50 zlotych note from the 1994 Narodowy Bank Polski series, dated 25 March 1994 and printed by Thomas De La Rue in London. Cataloged as Pick 175ar and corresponding to Milczak 198a-b, the piece preserves the complete printed design of the issued note in its unnumbered remainder form. Read more →

Australia 1877 - Mercantile Bank of Sydney £1 Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

A superb Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. specimen from the early colonial banking era, this £1 note for the Mercantile Bank of Sydney survives today as the only documented example of its type. Certified PMG 66 EPQ Gem Uncirculated and recorded as Pop 1, it represents a unique surviving specimen of a private Australian bank whose issues rarely appear in any form. The same piece is known to have appeared once in a past Christie’s sale prior to encapsulation, making this the sole confirmed survivor based on all available auction, census, and institutional research. Read more →

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

Graded PMG 64 Choice Uncirculated and recorded as the finest known example, this specimen stands as a unique surviving artifact of the Federal Bank of Australia’s brief existence. Its significance lies not only in its rarity but also in its documentation of Sydney’s role as a major colonial financial center during Australia’s private banknote era prior to Federation. Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Discovery AR Prefix Without Overprints Approval Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Serial number AR0000000 identifies the piece within the previously undocumented AR-prefix approval group. The prefix provides the principal diagnostic connection with the related AR-prefix production material from the 1994 50 Zlotych issue. Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Discovery AR Prefix with Red Overprint and Oval Stamp Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

The lower tracking panel carries De La Rue specimen-control number 005, linking the note to the printer's internal specimen-control system. Together with the AR prefix and zero serial, it provides a clear production identity for this specific specimen form. Read more →

Poland 1994 - 50 Zlotych Discovery AR Prefix Perforated SPECIMEN OF NO VALUE Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

This AR-prefix perforated specimen is a direct production artifact from the 1994 banknote program. Its AR0000000 serial, SPECIMEN OF NO VALUE perforation, archival annotations, Thomas De La Rue production origin, and complete final design document a previously unrecorded specimen form within the production history of the series. Read more →

Sweden 1785 - Stockholm Spinnhus Pollett System – Complete Nine-Denomination Institutional Currency Set:One Half Öre to One Daler (Pick Unlisted)

The monetary system consists of nine denominations: one half öre, one öre, two öre, five öre, six öre, seven öre, sixteen öre, twenty-four öre and one daler. Each note was engraved with a distinct ornamental frame and printed anopisthographically on eighteenth-century Swedish rag paper. All examples remain unissued and uncirculated, with several retaining archival tape residue from long-term institutional storage. Individual denominations are exceptionally rare, and the higher values-particularly seven öre, sixteen öre, twenty-four öre and one daler-are almost never encountered in private collections. Read more →