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10 Pounds - Union Bank of Australia Limited
| Issuer | Union Bank of Australia Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1886 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Pounds |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette at top shows Britannia seated with a lion and kangaroo at her sides and a sailing ship in the background; a portrait of Queen Victoria in three-quarter facing left occupies the upper left corner, with the bank's arms appearing at lower right. The note is issued for the Christchurch branch and carries a promise-to-pay text in letterpress below the central vignette. Engraved in the characteristic intaglio style of Perkins, Bacon & Co. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE UNION BANK OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND WE PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER HERE, ON DEMAND TEN POUNDS STERLING. CHRISTCHURCH FOR THE DIRECTORS & COMPANY |
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| Comments |
The Union Bank of Australia Limited was incorporated by Royal Charter in London in 1837, and for most of its existence it was essentially a British institution conducting colonial business — London shareholders, London directors, notes designed and printed in London. Perkins, Bacon & Petch had been engraving security printing for banknotes and postage stamps since the 1820s, and their work for Australian colonial banks followed the same tight intaglio discipline they applied to philatelic commissions.
The Union Bank merged into the Australia and New Zealand Bank in 1951. High-denomination colonial notes from the 1880s rarely survived in any quantity — branch destruction of returned stock was routine, and £10 represented serious money in daily commercial life.