Collection PL

Uruguay 1862 - Banco de Londres y Rio de la Plata 100 Pesos Specimen (Pick S245s)

Graded PMG 64 EPQ, this example ranks among the finest recorded for the type. It represents the approved master proof of Uruguay’s first internationally engraved banknote-where London’s precision met Montevideo’s new financial identity. Read more →

Argentina 1866 - Banco de Londres y Rio de la Plata 1 Real Rosario Type A with Printed Signature Issued Note (PS1731, Bauman SFE 70)

Cataloged as PS1731 and Bauman SFE 70, the Rosario 1 Real vale stands among the earliest surviving paper issues associated with British-controlled banking activity in Argentina, illustrating the formative stage of Anglo-Argentine financial infrastructure. Read more →

Argentina 1866 - Banco de Londres y Rio de la Plata 1 Real Rosario Type B with Hand Signature Issued Note (PS1731, Bauman SFE 70)

The Argentine monetary system of the 1860s remained highly fragmented. Provincial issues circulated alongside pesos fuertes, reales, merchant drafts, and Bolivian silver coinage. By specifying redemption in "Plata Boliviana," the bank aligned its obligations with a widely recognized silver reference used throughout regional trade networks. Read more →

Great Britain c.1806–1812 - Derby Bank £5 Proof (Pick Unlisted)

A printer’s proof of a £5 note prepared for the Derby Bank during the formative years of British provincial banking, dating to circa 1806–1812. This piece belongs to the critical transitional period between eighteenth-century handwritten credit instruments and the fully industrialized, security-driven banknote production that would dominate the nineteenth century. Read more →

Italy 1868 - Banco di Napoli Fede di Credito 50–200 Lire Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Specimen Fede di Credito from the Banco di Napoli, engraved by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. during the early years of the unified Kingdom of Italy. The Banco di Napoli traced its roots back to charitable institutions founded in 1539, making it one of Europe’s oldest surviving banks. Rather than circulating currency in the strict sense, these fede di credito served as deposit receipts payable on demand, functioning as quasi-banknotes that circulated regionally as trusted paper. Read more →

Italy 1869 - Credito Agricolo della Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna 30 Lire Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

Graded PMG 63 Choice Uncirculated and designated Top Pop, this note combines first-number pedigree, unique survival status, and institutional importance. It represents a foundational artifact of Italy’s early cooperative and agricultural credit systems, directly tied to the financial infrastructure that later evolved into the nationwide Credito Cooperativo network. Read more →

Italy 1869 - Bradbury, Wilkinson and Company Portrait of Man for Credito Agricolo della Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna 30 Lire Design Intaglio Vignette

This piece represents a working design element rather than a standalone artwork. Its direct linkage to the 30 Lire Credito Agricolo note places it within the exact production sequence of that issue, documenting how individual engraved components were created and later assembled into the finished banknote. Read more →

Italy 1866 - Credito Fondiario di Bologna 50 Lire Specimen (Pick Unlisted)

The note’s oversized layout is striking, with ornate guilloché and multiple coats of arms symbolizing the pre-unification states of Italy. This heraldic display was already becoming obsolete by the 1860s as national identity consolidated, making this design a rare vestige of Italy’s regional past engraved onto its financial instruments. Wide margins, full color, and archival cancellations confirm its specimen status. Read more →

Austria 1800 - Wiener Stadt Banco 1 Gulden Issued Note (Pick A29a)

Additional security elements include embossed dry stamps, hand-applied serial numbers, and official signatures, all characteristic of early Austrian paper money production. These features reflect a transitional phase in banknote design, positioned between handwritten fiscal instruments and later industrial security printing. Read more →

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

The note’s design reflects the mature typographic language of the Wiener Stadt Banco. Authority and trust are conveyed through dense calligraphic text, a rigorously symmetrical layout, and clearly articulated denomination panels. Security depended on material and structural features rather than pictorial imagery, including multiple blind embossed seals, hand-applied elements, and a complex watermark system displaying the value in both Arabic and Roman numerals. These measures represent a deliberate, pre-industrial approach to counterfeit deterrence, optimized for a multi-regional empire. Read more →

Austria 1806 - Wiener Stadt Banco 10 Gulden Issued Note (Pick A39a)

Banco-Zettel circulated as compulsory legal tender throughout the Habsburg lands, forming a unified monetary framework for a linguistically and culturally diverse empire. In the Austrian partition of Poland (Galicia), the gulden operated under the established accounting name Złoty Reński and was fully absorbed into local economic practice. The inclusion of Polish-language denomination text on the note was a practical administrative measure, ensuring intelligibility and acceptance among Polish-speaking populations rather than serving a symbolic function. 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 →