Collection PL

Australia 1965 — Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited $20 Travellers Cheque Rejected Design Proof (Pick Unlisted)

Rejected design proof for the proposed 20 Dollars traveller’s cheque printed and engraved by Bradbury Wilkinson & Co., London, for The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Submitted in 1965 and annotated “Not Approved,” it represents a parallel concept in the three-denomination traveller’s cheque proposal of that year. The composition features elegant guilloche borders in blue-green and lavender hues, overprinted with a large central watermark-style globe bearing the bank’s initials C.B.C. ... Read more →

Australia 1965 — Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited $50 Travellers Cheque Rejected Design Proof (Pick Unlisted)

Rejected design proof for the 50 Dollars traveller’s cheque prepared by Bradbury Wilkinson & Co., London, for The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Submitted in 1965 as the top denomination in the same three-value series, this pink-rose specimen bears the annotation “Not Approved” and the same submission date as the $20 proof. The engraving is rich and multi-layered, displaying Bradbury Wilkinson’s refined late-intaglio craftsmanship with deep guilloche patterns and broad, formal typography. ... Read more →

Australia 1961 — Bank of New South Wales Sterling Travellers Cheques, Complete Printer’s Proof Set £2-£50 (Pick Unlisted)

A complete archival printer’s proof set of five Sterling Traveller’s Cheques produced by Bradbury Wilkinson & Company in London for the Bank of New South Wales in April 1961. The set comprises the full denomination range — 2 Pounds, 5 Pounds, 10 Pounds, 20 Pounds, and 50 Pounds — preserved together from a single, documented submission event within the printer’s internal approval and numbering workflow. Each sheet displays the finished engraved face design adopted by the Bank of New South Wales for its early-1960s traveller’s cheque issue. ... Read more →

Honduras 1873 — 5 Pesos Treasury Note Billete de Tesoreria, Comayagua (Pick Unlisted)

Original 5 Pesos Billete de Tesoreria issued by the Republic of Honduras at Comayagua and dated April 20, 1873. The printed text makes it payable to bearer against the national Treasury under the decree of March 18 of the same year, a stop-gap fiscal instrument used in place of scarce coin. Handwritten signatures and multiple official seals are present. ... Read more →

Paraguay 1856 - Tesoro Nacional 2 Reales Treasury Note, Earliest National Paper Money (Pick Unlisted, Miguel Pratt MC14)

This 2 Reales Tesoro Nacional Treasury Note of 1856 is one of the foundational objects in the monetary history of Paraguay and is presented here as the unique known surviving example of this earliest national paper-money issue. Produced under the government of President Carlos Antonio Lopez, it predates the later and more familiar Paraguayan paper issues of the 1860s and belongs to the first attempt by the national Treasury to create a circulating paper instrument for domestic use. The note was printed locally in Asuncion on thin handmade paper at a time when Paraguay still lacked the industrial printing infrastructure available to larger South American economies. ... Read more →

Australia 1929 — Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited — Circular Letter of Introduction Photographic Proof (Mounted on Cardstock, PCGS 50 About New)

This photographic proof represents a Circular Letter of Introduction prepared for the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited during the late interwar period. Such documents functioned as formal financial identification instruments, issued to bank clients traveling abroad to establish identity, credibility, and recognized standing within an international banking network. In practical use, the holder would present the letter to correspondent banks, which would acknowledge the issuing institution and extend services based on that established relationship. ... Read more →

Egypt 1930 — Greece Ministry of Foreign Affairs Handwritten Arabic Consular Testimonial (Cairo Consulate)

Original handwritten Arabic testimonial issued by the Consulate of the Kingdom of Greece in Cairo in 1930, executed entirely in period Arabic manuscript—an exceptionally rare linguistic and administrative crossover. European consulates in Egypt almost never issued documents in Arabic; Greek consular paperwork of this era was typically prepared in Greek or French, making this Arabic-language issuance a near-unique example of cross-cultural legal administration. The document carries a full, sharply struck royal Greek consular seal in red, displaying the crowned cross-and-shield emblem of the Kingdom of Greece surrounded by the bilingual Greek–French inscription identifying the Cairo consulate. ... Read more →

Egypt 1907 — First Issue Revenues 1 & 2 Milliemes Tied on Official Document

Official Egyptian internal-security and licensing document dated 1907, printed on pale beige government stock with a pre-ruled bilingual Arabic–French layout. The sheet contains early Khedivial administrative headings at top right (وزارة الداخلية – قسم الضبط) and preprinted lines for applicant name, profession, address, and licensing purpose. All fields are completed in dark brown dip-pen ink with flowing early 20th-century handwriting. ... Read more →

Egypt 1911 — The Odeon Hall, Cairo Gold Watch Repair Invoice

Early 1911 invoice from The Odeon Hall in Cairo, one of the city’s most modern pre-war establishments combining gramophone sales, watchmaking, and luxury retail. Issued for the repair of a gold watch, the bilingual French–Arabic letterhead advertises phonographs, records, and precision horological services, reflecting Egypt’s rapid adoption of European technology and leisure culture. The page displays a refined pre-war commercial aesthetic: scrolling decorative borders, clear French titles with Arabic equivalents, and balanced typesetting characteristic of early Cairo printing houses. ... Read more →

Egypt 1912 — Allen, Alderson & Co. Machinery Agents, Alexandria (Illustrated Letterhead)

Spectacular illustrated industrial letterhead from Allen, Alderson & Co., Alexandria, dated 18 January 1912. The firm served as engineering agents and importers for major British manufacturers such as Ruston, Proctor & Co., supplying steam engines, boilers, pumps, and milling equipment to Egypt’s rapidly modernising industrial and agricultural sectors. The sheet features a refined bilingual English–Arabic masthead identifying the company as agents, importers, and engineers active throughout the Delta and Upper Egypt. ... Read more →

1931 — Deutsche Orientbank A.G. Cairo Correspondence Set (Letter, Registered Cover, and Account Statement)

Complete 1931 Deutsche Orientbank A.G. Cairo correspondence set consisting of three original components: a printed bank letterhead with bilingual Arabic–French text, the matching addressed postal cover bearing a King Fuad 5m franking and Cairo postal strikes, and the full Konto–Korrent account statement issued to the same client on the same date. Taken together, these documents preserve the complete administrative chain between the German overseas bank's Cairo branch and one of its Egyptian clients during the interwar period. ... Read more →

Egypt 1923 — Banco di Roma, Cairo Branch Issued Cheque

Original Banco di Roma cheque issued in Cairo on 17 November 1923, printed on cream security paper with a richly engraved Roman header characteristic of interwar Italian banknote and cheque design. At the upper left, within an elaborate vertical cartouche of scrollwork and rosettes, appears the iconic Capitoline Wolf suckling Romulus and Remus. This emblem served as the visual shorthand for Banco di Roma's institutional identity and its projection of Italian national symbolism abroad. ... Read more →