A RARE £10 note issued by the Royal Bank of Ireland in 1929 is expected to fetch up to £5,000 when it goes under the hammer in London this month.
The note is one of just 12,000 issued in a set printed on May 6, 1929 in the newly formed Irish Free State, of which, it is suggested, only ten have survived.
It features among more than 100 Irish banknotes, dating from the early 19th century through to more modern times, that are due to go up for sale at the Dix Noonan Webb auction house in London on Monday, April 27.
The notes "reflect the period of political upheaval and economic changes that followed the partition of Ireland after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in 1921", according to experts at the auctioneers.
A Royal Bank of Ireland £5 note, issued on January 29, 1931, and a National Bank Ltd £5 note dated March 15, 1933, both of which have pre-sale estimates of £1,800 to £2,200, will also be auctioned at the event.
Following the establishment of the Free State in 1922, a Currency Commission was established in Ireland which introduced the Irish Pound, fixed at parity with the Pound Sterling.
Eight banks were given permission to issue the new nation’s notes, including the Royal Bank of Ireland - which had not previously produced notes, with the amount of money each bank could issue proportionate to its size.
“In 1929 there were 15 different types of £1, £5 and £10 notes circulating in the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland,” a Dix Noonan Webb spokesman explained.
“With 45 different notes issued in a single year on the island of Ireland, some of which are rare, it is a collectors’ paradise,” he added.
Founded in 1990, Dix Noonan Webb is one of the world’s leading specialist auctioneers and valuers of coins, tokens, medals and paper money of all types.
