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1 Pound
| Issuer | African Banking Corporation Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1890 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound sterling (1694-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in green on white paper, the reverse is dominated by a large central vignette of a coat of arms or shield supported by elaborate radiating guilloche work, flanked on either side by two symmetrical rosette medallions each bearing the word 'ONE'. The issuer's name 'AFRICAN BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED' arcs around the central device, with the word 'ONE' repeated in large serif letters at each corner within ornate lathe-work borders. |
| Reverse lettering | AFRICAN BANKING CORPORATION LIMITED ONE ONE ONE ONE |
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| Comments |
The African Banking Corporation was a British colonial bank incorporated in London in 1891 — which creates an immediate puzzle for any note dated 1890. The most likely explanation is that the date refers to the authorized series rather than the actual issue date, a practice Bradbury Wilkinson used when engraving plate dates ahead of a bank's formal operations. The ABC operated primarily in South Africa and Rhodesia, eventually absorbed into the Standard Bank in 1920.
Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work on colonial bank notes from this period is consistently high quality, but surviving ABC issues are genuinely rare — the bank's relatively short independent existence meant small print runs and limited redemption infrastructure.