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10 Pounds Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd.
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of Australia Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a reclining allegorical woman holding a caduceus, with a ship in port and industrial factories visible in the background. Elaborate guilloche border frames the design, with the bank's title and denomination inscriptions surrounding the central scene. The note is issued for circulation in New Zealand, with the place of issue Wellington noted in the text. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in red-brown on a dense guilloche underprint, with a central scenic vignette of a river landscape framed by mountains. A kangaroo rears upright at left and an emu stands at right, flanking the central scene as heraldic supporters. Numeral 10 counters appear at both sides within ornate rosette panels, with small portrait medallions at the upper corners and the printer's imprint of Waterlow & Sons Limited, London Wall, London, E.C. at the foot. |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of Australia Limited was one of the longest-surviving private trading banks in Australian history, eventually absorbed into the Westpac group after its 1981 merger with the Bank of New South Wales. By 1919, Australian private banknote issue was already in sharp decline — the Commonwealth Bank had been issuing notes since 1913, and legislative pressure was mounting to centralise currency entirely. This note was printed against that backdrop, during what proved to be the final years of meaningful private bank circulation in Australia.
Waterlow & Sons handled the printing, as they did for much of the CBA's later note production. The £10 denomination was rarely handled by ordinary depositors; high-value private notes of this period circulated primarily between merchants and in interbank settlement.