The first banknote ever issued in Australia looks set to smash records as it goes up for sale with Melbourne dealer Coinworks.
 A remarkable piece of history, gifted to the five year old daughter of the governor-general |
The note is valued at $3.6m, which is far higher than the record set for an Australian coin in March, when an example of the famous Holey Dollar sold for $508,266.
It already holds the record for an Australian banknote, after selling for $1.9m in 2008.
The note was discovered in England in 1999, as the personal effects of Judith Denman were being organised following her death 12 years earlier.
Denman, daughter of the governor-general at the time, Lord Denman, had been presented with the note on May 1, 1913 by Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, when she was just five years old.
 Australia's first notes were nicknamed Fisher 's Flimsies, a reference to their low value as the first ten shillings issue of the British Commonwealth |
The banknote bears the serial number M000001, making it the very first ever issued in Australia. The idea for the country's first banknote came from the Fisher himself, who felt that post-colonial Australia needed a better sense of national identity.
Fisher also helped establish a government-owned bank, the Commonwealth Bank, and saw the introduction of the Commonwealth postage system. He also founded Australia's capital, Canberra.
In April, the auction record for a US banknote was set by the only example of the 1891 $1,000 Treasury note in private hands.
See our fantastic stock of rare coins for sale.
