1444

VARIOUS COUNTRIES, Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., representative vignette sample book with 104 engraved

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Paper Money - World Currency Start Price:5,500.00 USD Estimated At:7,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
VARIOUS COUNTRIES, Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., representative vignette sample book with 104 engraved
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VARIOUS COUNTRIES, Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., representative vignette sample book with 104 engraved proofs, ca. 1856–1903, extremely rare, ex-Rocha. Unique and complete original presentation album of engraved banknote vignettes by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co., London, one of the foremost security printers of the nineteenth century, known for banknotes, postage stamps, and stock certificates. Founded by Henry Bradbury in 1850, the firm began engraving banknotes in 1856 and was later acquired by the American Bank Note Company in 1903.

This album was the company’s official sample and presentation book, carried by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. representatives around the world to exhibit the quality of their engraving work to governments and central banks. The album was used in Argentina during the late nineteenth century in connection with proposals for national banknote production. It was then acquired by Doctor Dardo Rocha, the governor of the province of Buenos Aires from 1881 to 1884. Much later, it was sold as lot 787 in C.C. Gaona's auction in Buenos Aires of the Dr. Rocha library held from September 14 to 18, 1964, where it was described as including a £10 note at the front, with an extensive assortment of engraved vignettes, gilded page borders, and fine leather binding.

Bound in original gilt leather covers with fully gilded page edges, complete with 104 engraved vignette proofs, each mounted on a separate page with its original tissue guard. Page size 21 × 14 centimeters, approximately 8.2 × 5.5 inches. The first page presents a beautifully engraved £10 specimen note, followed by a comprehensive sequence of vignettes depicting important historical figures, inventors, explorers, allegorical scenes, and heraldic designs from various continents.

The vignettes represent designs prepared for banknotes issued in numerous countries, including Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Persia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ceylon, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Cuba. Each image is a steel-plate proof of exceptional sharpness and artistry, showing the precision and aesthetic quality that made Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. one of the most respected engravers of the nineteenth century. Condition is very good, the pages strong and bright with light stains and typical foxing, impressions bold, vignettes clear and in excellent condition, binding tight, gilt decoration bright, minor handling only.

No other complete Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. vignette album of this kind is known to us. Only isolated individual vignettes have appeared on the market. This example is believed to be unique. Pedigreed to the Dr. Rocha Collection and subsequently sold in C.C. Gaona's Buenos Aires public auction of September 14–18, 1964, Lot 787.

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