1960 Five Pound Coombs/Wilson R50S about VF

Front: Sir John Franklin at right

Back: Agricultural and indigenous symbols

Period on Issue: December 1962 ~ February 13th 1966

Provenance: Lot #3082, Noble Numismatics Auction 73 (July 2003). Estimate: $2,000, Hammer: $2,100, Nett: $2,446.

This is an honest example of Australia's highest value predecimal star note.

Although star replacement notes were introduced into the printing process of Australia's 10/- and 1 Pound notes in 1948, star notes were not used in the printing process of the higher denominations of 5 Pound and 10 Pound at that time.

The archives of the Note Printing Branch showed that in 1962, the spoilage rate of five-pound notes was about 2.3%. In round number terms, this means that on average, one to two notes per bundle of five-pound notes printed in the early 1960s was spoiled - an incredible ratio when we think of it.

Prior to the introduction of star replacement notes, it was necessary for NPA staff to manually identify each misprinted note, remove it from the final print run, and then manually renumber it.

When we consider that this needed to be done 13,000 times per week ( the equivalent of 100 hours of work), we can readily understand why Note Printing management was keen to do whatever they could to increase the efficiency of their staff.

In August 1962 it was agreed that star notes should be introduced into Australia's five-pound notes.

Five-pound star notes were first issued into circulation in January 1963 and remained in use until the introduction of decimal currency in February 1966.

As the only five-pound star note ever issues, the R50s is unique as a type note in the Australian series. It is rare in any grade.

SKU: 3190