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)

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 →

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

As a stand-alone intaglio impression, the vignette preserves the original pictorial element independently from the financial instrument in which it was used and documents Bradbury Wilkinson's portrait engraving and banknote production practice at the component level. Read more →

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

Surviving proof material from the Bank of Australasia New Zealand operations is exceptionally scarce. The combination of high denomination, branch specificity, and proof status positions this example as a primary documentary artifact of British colonial banking mechanics, engraving practice, and monetary authority in late nineteenth century New Zealand. Read more →

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

This proof represents a pre-issue banknote of the Bank of Australasia, denominated Ten Pounds and prepared for the Melbourne office during the institution early period of operation. It was produced as part of the bank internal approval and presentation process and was not intended for circulation. Read more →

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

Unlike manuscript-only diamond-district receipts, this example is produced on an officially printed fiscal form bearing the engraved royal arms of Portugal, demonstrating its use within the elite treasury office rather than in peripheral notarial contexts. The printed template, the inked manuscript completion, and the red-brown validation marks are characteristic of the administrative procedures governing all gold leaving the diamond region under crown monopoly. Read more →

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

Produced in London by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., the note displays the firm’s finely controlled intaglio characteristic of the 1870s: geometric borders, elaborate guilloches, and a bold typographic layout. The large red overprint “ONE” identifies it as an internal specimen, intended for reference or approval rather than circulation. Its pristine surfaces, confirmed by PMG’s Exceptional Paper Quality designation, reflect its archival preservation and the superior paper stock used for BWC’s specimen and proof work. 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)

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 →

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

The survival of this particular note is itself remarkable. Oversized, fragile, and produced on early BWC security paper, such pieces were highly vulnerable to destruction. Most unadopted private note designs were discarded by banks, burned during liquidation, or lost during institutional mergers. Specimens from failed Italian banknote issuers of the 1870s are almost nonexistent, and the Banca Italo-Germanica ranks among the most elusive of them all. Read more →

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

On the 250 Lire specimen, the vignette occupies the prominent vertical panel near the center-left of the note, immediately beside the principal Banca Italo-Germanica text and denomination structure. Its scale and placement make it one of the dominant visual elements of the completed design and provide a direct production link between the independent engraving and the finished 1871-72 banknote. Read more →

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

At the time of writing, this is the only documented specimen of the 1872 100 Pesos = 10 Doblones type. No additional specimens are known in private collections, institutional holdings, or grading census records. The note is unlisted in Pick and absent from all major published catalogues, reflecting its survival outside the normal catalogued population rather than any provisional or trial status. Read more →