One Pound Star Replacement Note 1961 Coombs / Wilson

Uncirculated R34bs

Reserve Bank with emerald green reverse

Incredible quality for such a rare QEII star - crisp and original.

Anyone actively collecting pre-decimal notes at the moment knows full well that catalogue values haven't reflected the actual market for a few years now.

Despite the drop in market values, and even despite a drop in the number of keen buyers in the upper end of the pre-decimal note market, the rarity of the best notes hasn't changed much at all in recent years.

Look at auction statistics for good quality pre-decimal notes over an extended period of time, and compare the overall number of notes seen with what has come onto the market since say mid-2012 (when the boom arguably went bust), and you'll see that top quality pre-decimal notes are just as rare as they've always been.

If you're one of those collectors that demand natural notes only and insists on your notes being graded conservatively, your job of acquiring assets that will stand the test of time becomes so much harder.

This particular note is just that - absolutely crisp and natural.

Even if it was a regular R34b (easily the most common note in the entire Australian pre-decimal note series) it'd be fantastic quality.

The intaglio is raised and the colours are vivid. When we remind ourselves that it's a rarer star replacement note, that quality becomes all the more meaningful.

I often wonder how rare items stay in pristine condition over an extended period of time - it can be just incredible how a valuable note can not be spent, much less preserved in mint condition for half a century!

Prices of top-quality and blue-chip notes such as this one could well be under-shooting the market at the moment.

I've checked back through auction statistics for comparable notes over the past few decades, and you really need to go back at least 12-15 years to see a comparable note offered for sale in this price range.

While everyone acknowledges that the market got a bit carried away with itself in the latter stages of the boom, the price this note is now at is now well before things got carried away.

How many really blue-chip assets are available at the moment that can be bought for cents in the dollar?

I can't think of too many at all, but this note has to be among them.

SKU: 2925