First Australia banknote on sale for $4.5m
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AUSTRALIA'S first banknote, printed 100 years ago, is to go on sale this month for $4.5 million.
The 10 shilling note, serial Number M000001 and issued May 1, 1913, is to go on exhibit in the Hall of Honour at the World Stamp Expo in Melbourne from May 10-15 before being offered for private sale.
Coinworks, which deals in rare coins and notes and is handling the sale, said the note symbolised one of the most important periods in the history of Australia - the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901 and the subsequent evolution of nationhood.
Coinworks chief executive Belinda Downie said the note was hand numbered at a ceremony held at the Government Printing House in Melbourne.
The note was presented to Judith Denman, the five-year-old daughter of the governor general at the time, by
Prime Minister Andrew Fisher and it was found in her effects after she died in 1987.
It was acquired by a private collector in Sydney for $1 million in 2000 and changed hands again in 2008 at auction for $1.9 million.