Pre-Decimal Banknotes

Lot 2909    Session 10 (7.30pm Wednesday)    Pre-Decimal Banknotes

Estimate $200,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $255,000

TEN SHILLINGS, Collins-Allen (1913), M000005, red serial numbers with prefix letter M, (R.1a, Vort-Ronald 1a, Nicholson 1-ii), printed May 1, 1913, presentation note to Andrew Fisher, Prime Minister of Australia. Uncirculated, very rare, and the finest known note of this issue.

Ex Stanley Gibbons Auction (London) 1976, and Dr Alan Nicholson Collection, Sale 49 (lot 1689 part). This and the next lot are a superb pair of the first 10/- Australian notes [the so-called 'Presentation Notes']. These notes are in nearly perfect condition [and do not have the pin-holes seen in other notes, where they had been attached to the letters which originally accompanied nearly all these notes]. Numbered 4 and 5, they were assigned to Andrew Fisher and taken by him at the Special Ceremony at the Note Printing office on 1 May 1913 when the notes were first numbered prior to general release [the three earlier numbers were given to the daughter of the Governor-General who imprinted the first number, the second note was given to the Governor-General, and the third note was presented to his young son. Andrew Fisher, then Prime Minister and the instigator of the first Australian banknotes retained notes M000004 and M000005. These notes are accompanied by an official envelope and a letter (lot 2911). The envelope is a Government issue from the Prime Minister's office, on which Andrew Fisher has written: 'Private/Australian notes/Nos 4 and 5 10/- denomination' and signed it, lower right: 'Andrew Fisher 20/6/13.' The hand-written note is on small size official paper from the Prime Minister printed in red with the Australian Coat of Arms on which Andrew Fisher has written: 'The Nos 1,2 and 3 of the first issue of Australian ten shilling notes were presented to the Governor General's daughter, himself and his young son. The two enclosed herewith are the following numbers 4 and 5, Mrs Fisher holds No 28. Andrew Fisher 20/6/13.' The ownership of these two notes from the time they were issued to Andrew Fisher to their appearance in a Stanley Gibbons banknote auction is not known but presumably they were held by a family descendent of Mr. Fisher. These 10/- notes issued by the Australian Commonwealth Treasury were the first Australian banknotes which were entirely produced in this country. The first Australian notes issued by the Treasury some three years earlier had been the superscribed notes, and while the overprinting of these notes had been carried out in this country, and some of the note forms which were superscribed were also produced in Australia, a significant proportion of note forms which had been used for that issue had been designed and printed in Great Britain. This 10/- note was followed by a range of other denominations up to Å“100 which had all been designed and printed in Australia. This first 10/- note was predominantly blue in colour with an ornate design on the front featuring the Australian Coat-of-Arms and the Goulburn Weir on the back. It was a totally Australian production, the design was the result of a competition, the printing plates were engraved locally and the notes were printed in Melbourne. It was incidentally the first 10/- note issued in the then British Empire and preceded the release of a 10/- note in the United Kingdom. These two notes with the accompanying material are of the utmost historical importance, and must be considered as the premier item of the Australian banknote series. It marks an early but extremely important step in the evolution of Austalian nationhood and provided a significant impetus to the subsequent development of Australia as a nation. No 1 was sold privatley in January 200 to a Sydney collectior for a reported one million dollars (SMH).