Australia 1966 Complete Type I Specimen Banknote Set In Presentation Folder (10 Notes, $1 - $20, Inc $5)

Includes 10 Notes: Two each of $1, $2, $5, $10 and $20

Signed by 10 dignitaries involved with the design; printing and distribution of Australia's decimal notes

This folder is an incredibly exclusive heirloom from one of our nation's most formative economic events.

To mark the introduction of Australia's new decimal currency notes in 1966, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) prepared a special album that included two examples of each of the new denominations, as well as information on their design and production.

Personally Presented to Dignitaries

It is known that 17 of these albums were personally named for the recipient and signed by the Governor of the Reserve Bank, and were presented to:

●       The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Governor-General (Lord Casey), The Governor General's Wife,(Mrs Casey), The Prime Minister (Sir Robert Menzies), The Federal Treasurer (William McMahon), The Secretary to the Treasury (Sir Roland Wilson), President of the Senate (Sir Alister McMullin),  Speaker in the House of Representatives (Sir John McLeay), Leader of the Opposition (Arthur Calwell), The Governor of the Bank of England (Retired, Lord Cromer), The Governor of the Bank of England (Lord Cobbold), The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Gilbert Wilson), the artist Alister Morrison, the artist Gordon Andrews and the artist Russell Drysdale.

An additional 235 albums were printed in exactly the same style, although they were not signed by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. Only 191 of these albums were actually distributed, to the following people and organizations:

●       The Governor of the Reserve Bank (Sir Herbert “Nugget” Coombs), The Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, Reserve Bank Board Members, Members of the Design Panel, Major Trading, State, Savings & Foreign Banks, Commonwealth Central Banks, Other Central Banks, Libraries & other institutions in Australia & overseas, High Commissioner in London, People and Organizations on the General Manager's list (mostly printers and overseas banks), Reserve Bank Archivist, Retired Treasury officials as well as Mr E. Kingsford Smith.

A total of 208 “Type I” specimen banknote albums were thus distributed.

If we presume that albums distributed to public collections will never be available to the collector market, it seems that at most, only 86 Type I Specimen note sets will ever be available to collectors.

Specimen banknotes are of great interest to collectors for the following reasons:

●    They are excessively rare;

●    They are printed before the commercial print run for the general public; and

●    They were generally presented to a “very restricted list of prominent persons”.

We haven't seen Type I decimal specimen note sets trade in their current price range since the late 1990s, and many sets have been split up since then.

This set remains in excellent condition - the covers are devoid of any wear or damage, while each of the notes remains in excellent condition.

Special Note re Quality: One of the $2 notes included in the set has detached from the page it was originally glued to. Rather than re-glue it into the album, we have placed the note in an acid-free holder, and have stored that in the relevant page within the album.

We have posted a separate image of the back of that $2 note above, it shows the condition that the note remains in. Under a loupe, it is possible to see that the note remains unimpaired.

We haven't seen a Type I Presentation album offered for sale via auction since May 2019, and have not seen a signed set offered since October 2018. We have sold a number of individual Type I Specimen notes in recent months for $3,250 apiece.

Provenance: 

Included with this set is a card indicating it was formerly from the estate of Sir Roland Wilson, who was Secretary to the Treasury at the time decimal currency was introduced. Another set with the provenance to Sir Roland Wilson has appeared at auction previously - that set also has an inscription from Nugget Coombs, who was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia at the time. Although the previously stated provenance appears to be at odds with the fact Wilson's own set had a personal inscription from Coombs, both may well be correct. It was not unusual for some dignitaries to receive two sets - one for themselves and one for their spouse.

Regardless of who the original recipient was of this set, the fact that it was signed by 10 dignitaries involved with the design, printing and distribution of Australia's first decimal banknotes indicates that person was very important indeed. Very few Type I Presentation Albums feature the signatures that this set has.

It remains an exclusive, rare, and historic memento of one of the most important events in Australia's economic history.

SKU: 18360