10 Shillings Bank of New Zealand, With numerals in upper corners

The Bank of New Zealand was a privately chartered institution when it issued this note — the Reserve Bank of New Zealand wouldn't be established until 1934, meaning private banks still shouldered full responsibility for note issue in the Dominion. The 1917 date places this squarely in the middle of the First World War, when sterling-zone banks faced genuine pressure on specie reserves and public confidence in paper currency was not guaranteed.

Bradbury Wilkinson produced a substantial portion of the southern hemisphere's commercial banknote output during this period, and their work for New Zealand banks was characteristically tight in intaglio registration. The "with numerals in upper corners" designation distinguishes this from an earlier plate variant — a running modification to the series rather than a separate issue, catalogued separately precisely because the two types circulated concurrently.