Banknotes

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History

In addition to our retail sales, this department generally holds five auctions per year. Auctions take place in London, Hong Kong and Singapore; and we also hold special sales on behalf of major institutions both in the UK and abroad.

Achievements

Auction records set by this department include:

•  Highest price for a European banknote: a £1 note from 1797 which sold for £57,200
•  Highest price for a Hong Kong $1 note (dated 1872, this sold for HK$860,000)
•  Highest price for a Middle Eastern banknote (a Palestine £100 note from 1927, which sold for £42,000)
•  Highest total for a banknote sale to date, £506,000, achieved in April 2003

Other major achievements:

• Part II, Adil Karouni Collection, April 2005 –  a Bank of England, T. Rippon £10 note with an estimate of £8,000 - £10,000 fetched £20,000
• World Banknote Sale, April 2005 – a Mauritius Government Issue, colour trial, 1000 rupees, ND (1954) sold for £10,000
• Banknotes of South East Asia Sale, Singapore, July 2005 – lot 1387, Straits Settlements, Government Issue, $50, 1 November 1927, serial number B/6 0023 sold for S$ 90,000
• World Banknote Sale, April 2006, - an extraordinary Bank of England note, which is one of the earliest known issues, sold for £55,200 (including buyers premium)

Our April 2004 auction was held in conjunction with the Maastricht paper money show, and resulted in a total selling price of £474,000. Highlights included a varied selection of British Commonwealth issues, Middle East notes, rare Bank of England and English Provincial notes and an excellent group of Scottish banknotes, including over 130 lots consigned by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (with all profits donated to the Scottish Society for Autism).

This was followed by the two day auction in Autumn. The auction on October 1st was Part I of a three part programme of sales for the Adil Karouni collection of English banknotes. This collection is without doubt one of the finest collections of its type to come on to the market. This unique sale had innumerable highlights: specifically, high denomination black and white notes, rare Treasury varieties and trials, special prefixes and presentation notes. The sale proved a huge success and it achieved a total of £380,000. The World Section was held across the two day extravaganza and contained over 900 banknotes which realised an impressive £388,000.

The final auction of the year was held in Hong Kong in November and realised a total of £284,000. The overall turnover in auction for 2004 was over £1.7 million, surpassing the considerable successes of 2003.

Part II of the Adil Karouni Collection of English Banknotes sale was sold in April 2005 and the sale achieved a total of £331,000. Highlights included the Bank of England Thomas Rippon £10 note dated London 31 October 1835. This was estimated at £8,000 - £10,000 and fetched £20,000. The World Banknotes sale held on the same day realised £374,000. The top lot was a Mauritius Government Issue colour trial 1000 Rupees ND (1954), which fetched £10,000.

July 2005 featured the Banknotes of South East Asia Sale in Singapore. Highlights included Lot 1387 (Straits Settlements, Government Issue, $50, 1 November 1927, serial number B/6 00023) which was estimated at S$30,000-S$40,000 and fetched S$90,000; Lot 1281 (Bank Negara Malaysia specimen set of the first series, ND 1967, estimate S$20,000-S$22,000, fetched S$34,000); and Lot 1339 (Straits Settlements, Government Issue, $5, 1st February 1901, serial number B/19 34616: estimated at S$3,000-S$4,000 and fetched S$12,000). The sale, comprising of 249 lots, realised a total of S$633,360.

Our April 2006 auction comprised over 1250 lots of World paper currency and achieved a staggering total of £632,643 including premium.
The highlights were an extensive selection of English provincial banknotes, the earliest known Bank of England note in private hands, a £99 dated 1705 which sold for £55,000.
A varied group of British Commonwealth featuring a lovely Bermuda collection which included the brown George VI £5 and the green 10/-.
The most surprising result however was a private collection of Ceylon which pricewise surpassed all expectations.

The auction on September 29th featured over 1200 lots of world paper money. The highlights were part IV of the Karouni collection which has now been successfully dispersed for a total of over 1 million pounds and illustrates the strength and demand for quality English banknotes.
There were good sections of Scottish, always popular, and including a record price for a Scottish note, a North of Scotland £5 dated 1906.
A Bank of Ireland £50 dated 1827 created a stir and realised £24,000, a record by a considerable margin for an Irish note.
Other highlights included a presentation album of Qatar and Dubai notes all with serial number 8 which realised the staggering sum of £26,000.
Overall, prices held up well, quality paper is still much in demand, Commonwealth issues, Middle East and the UK were particularly strong and a mention must be made for the Indian section which was very strong, a market to note for the future!
The total was a shade under £500,000, very respectable.

We are now cataloguing for Hong Kong in January 2007 and looking forward hopefully to a busy programme for the coming year.

Please remember that the above prices do not include the 15% buyers premium.

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Specialist
Barnaby Faull