PREVIEW: THE FRANK GOON REFERENCE COLLECTION OF BRITISH MALAYAN BANKNOTES – PART TWO: 23 MARCH

As Part One of this offering proved a year ago, the Frank Goon Collection would be a landmark assemblage of banknotes from anywhere in the world. Its focus on the economic development of Southeast Asia, from Malaysia and Singapore to North Borneo and Brunei, make it unique.

It was highly appropriate, then, that Noonans selected this collection to launch an active sales programme in Singapore.

Now Part Two comes to the rostrum, with Straits Settlements notes at the heart of the collection. As with the first sale, this catalogue provides an object lesson in collecting at its finest: Frank Goon pursued the rarest notes in the best available condition.

Picking stand-out lots from such an array of highlights can be difficult, but in this case the two undisputed stars of the show are the specimen Straits Settlement $1000 of 1911, of which only two examples are known, and the spectacular $100 of 1925 in a 50 EPQ, about uncirculated, PMG holder. The latter note is by far the finest known example of this popular note, and the paper quality is truly sensational.

The specimen $1000, dated17 March 1911, carries the serial number A/1 00000, as well as the signatures of the currency commissioners Brockman, Michell and David. Small purple SPECIMEN handstamps feature on the obverse, with a CANCELLED perforation across the centre.

It is very unlikely more than a handful of examples were made, and fewer will have survived, and so this takes its place at the head of this sale with an estimate of S$180,000-240,000.

Although other lots come with higher price guides, the Straits Settlements $100 of 1925 holds its own in being bay far the finest example on the PMG population report, and probably the finest known example of what is already rare note – “a truly astonishing example destined to be one of the crown jewels in any Straits Settlements collection”, according to specialist Barnaby Faull.

About uncirculated and with a date of 24th September 1925, it is signed by currency commissioners Marriott, Pountney and Colman below the crowned head of George V above a prowling tiger. The estimate is $50,000-70,000.