2019-04-08 Mon

Kagin’s Auctions sold a £50, issued by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, bearing the date 1.8.1934, for $26,400 on 29th March at the ANA National Money Show in Pittsburgh. The note belonged to a collection containing 40 notes of New Zealand. Only 52,000 such £50 notes were issued, out of which, PMG has graded only five. The offered note is graded choice Extremely Fine 45 Exceptional Paper Quality, and is finest of the five.

The obverse side features a kiwi, text Tawhaio Te Wherowhero in an oval frame and the national arms. Tawhaio Te Wherowhero was the Maori king from 1860 to 1894. The reverse side depicts the Mitre Peak which is located on Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park. The 5,560-foot tall peak got its name as it looks like a bishop’s mitre. Other denominations of the series also feature similar designs.

A single 500-mil note and 1-, 5- and 10-pound notes dated May 16, 1948, issued by Anglo-Palestine Bank Ltd. were sold for $31,200. All of them were provisional issues and four of them were offered at an auction for the first time.

Zionist authorities had issued these emergency notes which were printed in Tel-Aviv in April 1948. These notes were to be used if no printed notes would be received from other countries. They were issued secretly because the Anglo-Palestine Bank did not have the right to issue notes, and British authorities would have rejected the idea. Anglo-Palestine Bank notes were also printed in New York by the American Bank Note Co. and were received in July 1948. Post that event, almost all the emergency issues were destroyed and experts believe that less than 25 sets exist today.

Image Courtesy: Kagin’s Auction