Catalog
20 Pounds
| Issuer | African Banking Corporation Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Year | 189_ |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in salmon-red and black with an elaborate engraved border. To the left, a tall intaglio vignette presents a classical female allegorical figure in robes and a diadem, standing beside a shield. The central text panel carries the issuer name in bold letterpress, with a promise-to-pay clause specifying Cape Town as the place of payment, and the word SPECIMEN overprinted in red across the signature area; corner numerals and guilloche underprint ornament the note throughout. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | RHODESIA ISSUE AFRICAN BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED 20 TWENTY POUNDS No R/20 A1001 No R/20 A3500 Promise to Pay On Demand to the Bearer AT CAPE TOWN the Sum of TWENTY POUNDS Sterling Bulawayo 189 For African Banking Corporation Limited ACCOUNTANT MANAGER SPECIMEN TWENTY POUNDS TWENTY |
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| Comments |
The African Banking Corporation was a British colonial bank incorporated in 1891, primarily to service trade and mining interests across southern and eastern Africa. Its banknote issues were always modest in number, and the £20 denomination would have been a high-value commercial instrument — not retail currency but settlement paper for merchants and mining houses.
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the undated base, with the year left incomplete for manuscript completion at the branch of issue. Pinning down which office actually circulated a given example is rarely straightforward.