50 Pounds National Bank of New Zealand Limited

The National Bank of New Zealand Limited was incorporated in London in 1872 and operated as a British overseas bank, meaning its notes were designed and printed in the UK for export to the colony. Perkins Bacon's steel intaglio work was the standard of the period for anti-forgery security — their siderographic process, transferring engraved designs onto printing plates, was the same technology underpinning many colonial and South American issues of the era.

A fifty-pound denomination in 1870s–1890s New Zealand represented a substantial sum — well beyond ordinary commercial transactions — so surviving examples with genuine circulation wear are rare. Most would have passed between banks or large merchants rather than through public hands.