REVIEW: BANKNOTES 31 MAY 2022

Having chosen to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with a 500-lot auction of banknotes all featuring her portrait, Noonans have been delighted with the sale’s success.

The Platinum Jubilee Collection took just over £158,000 hammer with a sell-through rate of 86.8% and a top individual price of £3,200 for a Bank of England £5, J.B. Page, November 1971, in a presentation wallet.

Numbered no. A01 000013, it had been presented to Sir Jasper Quintus Hollom KBE (16 December 1917-29 August 2014) who was Chief Cashier of the Bank of England 1962-66 and subsequently the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England 1970-80.

“Although this auction was inspired by our desire to pay tribute to the Queen, we were no less committed to the interests of our consignors as we are with our other sales,” says expert-in-charge Thomasina Smith.

“The results speak for themselves and we are delighted to have been able to produce a memorable collectors’ catalogue as a keepsake of Her Majesty’s remarkable achievement.”

Although the sale focused on banknotes featuring The Queen’s image across the 70 years of her reign from 1952, Her Majesty first appeared on a note as a girl of eight in 1935, when a portrait based on a photograph graced the front of the first series Canadian $20.

Other highlights in this auction included a Belize, Monetary Authority, $100, from June 1980, sold for £2,000; a Bahamas, Central Bank presentation set dating to 1984 (£1,900); a British Caribbean Territories $5 from January 1959 (£1,700); a Bahamas, Central Bank $20 from 1974 (£1,500); and a Cayman Islands Currency Board specimen set produced 1971-4, (£1,500).

The sale also featured a framed and signed vignette of the celebrated Annigoni portrait of The Queen dating to 1955, which almost trebled the top estimate at £1,300.