2017-09-27 Wed

The month of September looks really good as a pair of banknote shows are held in Maastricht and London. Spink is holding a total of seven Spink banknotes auctions to coincide with these shows. The World Banknotes sale is another gargantuan one at almost 2000 lots and will take place from 27th – 29th September 2017 in London.

On the cards are some lovely Ceylon items including a note from an era when the Dutch ruled Ceylon. Lot 1297 is a Dutch VOC issue (United East India Company) 5 rijksdaalders ‘Kredit brief’, Colombo, from 17 September 1795. The Dutch East India Company ruled Ceylon, until their surrender to the British on 14th February 1796, the year after the issue of the above-mentioned banknote. The most important financial document issued at a turbulent period of Ceylon’s history. There is one other example believed extant and that is in the Dutch Maritime Museum in Amsterdam. It is very fine and considered to be of the highest rarity and historical significance to the currency of the Netherlands East Indies and of Ceylon.

The sale also includes a fascinating group of archival photographs of Egyptian currency that never made it to the presses. There is even a photograph of a design featuring a portrait of the English King, Charles I. It is a reverse archival photo showing a design for £1, 3 January 1926, black and white, portrait of Charles I of England at right, Pharaoh in watermark at left, value at center and corners, reverse, building and well at center.

The presence of Charles I on an Egyptian note simply shows that the designers were awaiting confirmation of who was to feature on the latest design. Charles was used as a placeholder on designs for several countries during this period.

In 1922, the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen was discovered and it was judged significant enough that a vignette of his golden mask was used on the series of 1930. The depiction of Charles I on these designs does suggest that there was some debate about this choice even as early as 1926. Obvious highlights are two trial 500 rials dated 1938 (lots 1917 and 1918) from the Banque Nationale d’Iran. One of our most exciting finds recently was a superbly preserved 10 pesos from the Spanish Philippines dated 1865 (lot 2464).