Lot 1570

Description

Excelsior Bank, Sydney, one pound, not dated (18 printed), numbered No.8100, on paper, unissued, no signatures, no watermarks, imprint of 'Perkins Bacon & Co. London' lower left, vignette of emu and kangaroo separating 'Excelsior' climbing mountain, 1 in circlar geometric frames in corners and 'ONE' in value tablets either side of vignette and in block lower left, all within rectangular spiral frame, states 'On demand I Promise to pay to the Bearer ONE POUND Sterling. Sydney ... For the EXCELSIOR Land Investment and Building Company and BANK Limited', with ONE in blue inside five geometric circles, on back geometric ovals with central value tablet 'Ã…â€Å‣1' and 'ONE' written inside scrolls six times around, blue and black on white/blue on white, (Vort-Ronald, Fig.173 and [p.162], comments p.162 on bank, also Tomlinson p.66). A few folds and creases, otherwise very fine and extremely rare.

The Excelsior Bank was founded in 1880 as a building society with a banking department. It however failed in 1893. The only notes surviving are unissued notes that come from a stub book of unissued notes which exists in private hands with approximately 72 notes surviving within that stub book. The figure carrying the banner in the vignette reminds one of the words of the then very popular American poet, Longfellow 'a banner with a stange device. Excelsior.' No specimens were sold in the May, Spink Perkins Bacon Archive sale.