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50 Pounds Bank of Otago Limited
| Issuer | Bank of Otago Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860-1869 |
| Type | Pattern or trial banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE BANK OF OTAGO LIMITED DUNEDIN £FIFTY PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND FIFTY POUNDS IN CASH HERE DUNEDIN _____186_ N° FOR THE DIRECTORS AND PROPRIETORS FIFTY MANAGER ENT° ACC° |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a single colour with an elaborate guilloche composition centred on a large oval medallion bearing the word 'DUNEDIN' in bold capital letters against a fine engine-turned ground. The central oval is encircled by an arc of text reading 'BANK OF OTAGO LIMITED', and the entire central device is flanked symmetrically by clusters of interlocking lathe-work ovals of varying sizes. Small ornamental rosette vignettes appear at the far left and right extremities of the design, with the remainder of the note left plain. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Otago was established in Dunedin in 1863, its founding timed almost precisely to catch the tail end of the Otago gold rush that had transformed the South Island's economic weight almost overnight. A £50 denomination was never a retail instrument — at that value, it moved between merchants, pastoralists, and the bank's own branches, rarely touching ordinary hands.
Batho & Co. of London handled the printing, a firm that serviced several colonial banking clients during this period but left little documented legacy compared to Perkins Bacon or De La Rue. The Bank of Otago itself was absorbed into the Bank of New Zealand in 1874, curtailing the series sharply. Surviving notes of this denomination are exceptionally rare.