An Irish Free State £100 note, dating from 10 September 1928 – one of only few examples known – is estimated at £12,000-£16,000 at a sale at Dix Noonan Webb in London on February 24. The sale will also include the second part of the collection of the late Gus Mac Amhlaigh of Dublin, totalling 113 lots.
An Irish Free State £50 note from September 1928 hand signed by Éamon de Valera is expected to fetch £10,000-£12,000. (UPDATE – THIS £50 NOTE MADE £10,000 AT HAMMER). A specimen 1978 Bank of Ireland £100 note, and a specimen Bank of Ireland 1978 £50 note each made £26,000 at hammer.
Two specimen Bank of Ireland Ploughman notes: a £50 and a £100, both dating from around 1929, each sold for £32,240. Neither of these had appeared in auction for decades and had been expected to fetch £5,000-6,000 each [Lots 410 & 411].
The three notes were part of the John Geraghty Collection and were all bought by an overseas collector with an interest in rare notes from all countries. The superb collection had been put together by the late John Geraghty and his son Sean, and comprised 54 lots which fetched £183,656.
Among the rarities at the sale of British, Irish and world banknotes are more than 30 ‘skit’ notes dating from the 19th century from the collection put together by Sir David Kirch. Andrew Pattison explains: “These documents, for it is technically incorrect to call them banknotes, are remarkable pieces of social history. They give us snapshots into the cares, fears, livelihoods, humour and pastimes of those who lived and worked in the British Isles for the last several hundred years. Skit notes generally mirror designs of real banknotes of the era. Some, by accident or design, sail very close to the wind, and 19th century court records are full of attempts made by unscrupulous or ignorant individuals to pass them as real money. Many of the punishments were severe, including flogging and transportation to the colonies.”
