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.