1976 R76bi $1 Note DBP Test Serials (Double Fold Paper) Bundle of 100 Notes

Front: Elizabeth II at right

Back: Indigenous dreaming artwork

Period on issue: 1976

Mintage: 500,000

Just 500,000 Australian notes were printed on this paper.

Note Printing Australia records show that just 500,000 DBP test $1 notes were issued on double-fold paper - that mintage is incredibly low, and in fact compares with some star replacement notes - all of which are presently worth much, much more.

The DBP $1 note is thought to have been first discovered late in 1977 by an eagle-eyed banknote collector in South Australia, and first brought to the wider attention of the banknote fraternity in an article written by the famed banknote collector Dr Alan Nicholson in the March 1981 edition of the Australian Coin Review Magazine.

In his 1981 article, Dr Nicholson stated that the DBP notes emerge as one of the more interesting sidelines of the decimal note series and will probably take their place in due course, along with the star note, it is almost certainly not the only time that the note-issuing authorities have released an experimental printing but it is the only time so far that we are able to identify the notes concerned.

Nicholson rated the DBP test notes so high that he thought they could be rated alongside star replacement and first prefix notes one day.

Click here to read our full article on the history to these unique and rare notes.

This particular bundle remains in excellent condition - amazing quality for a consecutive bundle of 100 notes that were printed some 40 years ago.

SKU: 20294