Collection PL

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

The historical context of this note is equally important. Before the 1910 Australian Notes Act, each major commercial bank operated as both a private deposit institution and a note-issuing authority, backed by gold reserves and subject to varying degrees of colonial regulation. The Commercial Bank of Australia was among the most prominent issuers, and its large denominations were used for interbank settlement, bullion transactions, and wholesale commercial payments. These notes circulated in an economy that was rapidly industrialising and integrating into global commodity markets through wool, gold, minerals, and agricultural exports. Read more →

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

The engraving is a characteristic example of Bradbury Wilkinson’s late Victorian security printing: a bold central title cartouche, finely balanced allegorical figures symbolizing commerce and navigation, and dense lathe-work designed to defeat contemporary counterfeiting. These elements were not decorative excess, but functional security features exported from London to colonial issuers seeking credibility and trust in rapidly expanding financial markets. Read more →

Australia 1877 - Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company Portrait of Woman for City of Melbourne Bank Limited 20 Pounds Design Intaglio Vignette (Pick Unlisted)

Bradbury Wilkinson developed banknote compositions from separately prepared engraved elements, including portraits, allegorical figures, heraldic devices, architectural views, counters, borders and ornamental panels. These components could then be combined within complete designs while preserving the precision and tonal control of the original engraving. Read more →

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

This proof represents a pre issue banknote of the Bank of Australasia, denominated Fifty Pounds and prepared for the Christchurch office during the late nineteenth century expansion of British chartered banking in New Zealand. It was produced as part of the institution internal design approval and presentation process and was never intended for public circulation. Read more →

Australia 1835-1850 - Bank of Australasia £10 Melbourne Proof (Pick Unlisted)

Proof material from the Bank of Australasia is exceptionally scarce due to the bank early date, limited production runs, and the routine destruction of non-circulating material once designs were approved. Surviving proofs provide direct evidence of how British banking institutions introduced formal paper money systems into Australia prior to Federation. Read more →

Brazil 1773 - Diamond Administration of Tejuco, 6 Octavas Gold Receipt No. 813 (Pick Unlisted)

Accordingly, the document qualifies as R9 - Unique: a singular surviving fiscal artifact of the Portuguese Crown's diamond-district administration at the height of Minas Gerais gold production. Its condition, completeness, watermark-bearing paper and clearly legible serial number 813 elevate it to true museum-grade status. 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)

The Federal Bank of Australia commenced operations in 1881 and expanded aggressively during the speculative land-boom years of the late nineteenth century. Its collapse during the catastrophic banking crisis of 1893 resulted in the rapid liquidation of assets and the withdrawal, redemption, and destruction of nearly all circulating notes. As a consequence, surviving material associated with the bank is almost entirely confined to printer’s proofs, archival specimens, and presentation examples retained outside Australia. Read more →

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

See more details including Individual images of this set Read more →

Italy 1871–1872 - Banca Italo-Germanica 250 Lire Specimen (Pick S976s)

Produced by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. in London during the early stages of their European expansion, the engraving reflects a transitional moment in BWC’s development from commercial engravers into one of the world’s premier security printers. The deeply cut guilloches, vast empty margins, and sculptural allegory of Standing Italia exhibit a sophistication rarely seen on private Italian issues of the period. BWC’s design language of the 1870s-ornate, aspirational, and technically ambitious-foreshadows the company’s later dominance in colonial and European banknote engraving. As an artifact of design history alone, this note marks one of the earliest intersections between British engraving expertise and the newly unified Italian state. Read more →

Italy 1871 - Standing Italia used on Banca Italo-Germanica 250 Lire Vignette Die Proof

The engraving is executed in dense, finely controlled linework, with extensive cross-hatching used to model the figure, clothing, shield, architectural background and decorative frame. The large vertical format allowed the vignette to function as a substantial independent design element while retaining sufficient detail for later incorporation into a complex security-printed composition. Read more →

Uruguay 1872 - Banco de Londres y Rio de la Plata 100 Pesos = 10 Doblones Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

The note was produced in London by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. as part of the bank’s highest-level security printing program. Its oversized format, broad unprinted margins, and finely executed intaglio engraving identify it as an archival specimen rather than a circulation note. The serial number 010001 places this piece at the very beginning of the production sequence, consistent with an early pull retained for reference, approval, or institutional record rather than public issue. Read more →