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1 Pound Bank of Australasia
| Issuer | Bank of Australasia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1874 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Pound |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The British Royal Arms vignette occupies the upper centre, flanked by circular ONE medallions at left and right, all within a finely engraved border. The promise-to-pay text in script occupies the central field, with handwritten date, serial number, and manuscript signatures of the accountant and manager below. The note is uniface, printed in black on plain paper by letterpress and intaglio. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE BANK OF AUSTRALASIA INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER, 1835. ONE ONE PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ONE POUND STERLING ON DEMAND HERE OR AT WELLINGTON FOR THE BANK OF AUSTRALASIA ONE |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Australasia was a London-incorporated institution that operated branches across the Australian colonies — never an Australian-chartered bank in any meaningful sense. Its notes circulated alongside those of locally founded rivals, but metropolitan oversight from Threadneedle Street meant conservative lending and, generally, conservative note design. Perkins, Bacon & Petch were the dominant security printers of the mid-Victorian period, their steel-intaglio process specifically chosen to defeat the colonial forgers who had already embarrassed several competing issuers.
The Bank of Australasia was absorbed into the Union Bank of Australia in 1951, making surviving pre-federation notes from any branch a finite population.