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20 Pounds Commercial Bank of New Zealand Limited
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of New Zealand Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
| Type | Pattern or trial banknote |
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| Obverse description | The British royal coat of arms is engraved at upper centre, flanked by two circular guilloche medallions bearing the denomination numeral '20' at left and right. The bank title 'The Commercial Bank of New Zealand Limited' appears in ornate script beneath the arms, with the legend 'INCORPORATED' in serif capitals along the top border and 'BY ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY' along the bottom border. The central field carries a cursive promise-to-pay text in intaglio script over a lightly shaded underprint panel, with the word 'TWENTY' set in bold letterpress at lower left and a 'SPECIMEN' overprint at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | INCORPORATED THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF NEW ZEALAND LIMITED. PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND TWENTY POUNDS ST. VALUE REC. HERE OR AT DUNEDIN FOR THE DIRECTORS & PROPRIETORS OF THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF NEW ZEALAND LIMITED. TWENTY BY ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. SPECIMEN |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of New Zealand Limited was established in 1866 — the same year this note was issued — with backing from London capital at a moment when Canterbury province was driving aggressive pastoral expansion. Perkins, Bacon & Petch had by this point a long record of printing colonial currency and postage stamps across the British Empire, their intaglio work considered among the most difficult to counterfeit available to colonial issuers at the time.
A £20 denomination in 1866 New Zealand represented serious commercial weight, aimed squarely at inter-merchant and station transactions rather than everyday retail. Very few examples are known to have survived.