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50 Pounds Bank of Australasia
| Issuer | Bank of Australasia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1863-1876 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Pounds |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | A vignette at upper centre presents two seated allegorical female figures, with an arms device at upper left. The note is a trial piece lacking the DUNEDIN branch designation that would appear at left and right on issued examples. Text legends are arranged in letterpress across the face, specifying the promise to pay fifty pounds at Wellington or on demand. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE BANK OF AUSTRALASIA INCORPORTED BY ROYAL CHARTER, 1835. FIFTY PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND FIFTY POUNDS HERE OR AT WELLINGTON FOR THE BANK OF AUSTRALASIA FIFTY NEW ZEALAND |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Australasia was a British-chartered institution headquartered in London, which is why its high-denomination notes were engraved and printed there rather than in the colonies where they actually circulated. Perkins, Bacon & Petch were the dominant security printers of the mid-Victorian period, responsible for much of the British Empire's paper currency and postage stamps — their siderographic process, which transferred engraved designs via hardened steel rollers, produced unusually fine detail resistant to counterfeiting.
A £50 face value placed this note well outside everyday commerce. It functioned primarily in interbank settlement and large mercantile transactions across the Australian colonies, where the Bank of Australasia operated branches from the 1830s onward.