History-rich banknote and A&P Show medal up for auction

Monday, 18 March 2024

An old banknote, the only one of its kind issued by the City Bank of Sydney and owned by a family with prominent Manawatū ties, is to go under the hammer.

A unique 1864 City Bank of Sydney £1 banknote coming up for auction by Mowbray Collectables has a rich history in the Manawatū.

The one-of-a-kind note is the only known banknote to have been issued and the only surviving example of the bank’s first issued £1 note.

First owned by Charles Thorne, who was a Sydney wine and spirit merchant, it was then passed on to the family of Joseph Nathan.

The Nathan family was “greatly significant” in New Zealand business history, a spokesperson from Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and Heritage said.

Joseph was a Jewish immigrant who first went to Australia before moving to Wellington in the 1850s.

It was in the 1890s that he set up a dairy factory outside of Feilding which then went on to produce New Zealand’s first dried milk formula food, Glaxo, for babies in 1904. Nathan exported the product to Britain using family connections.

The Nathans famously then moved into pharmaceuticals and started GlaxoSmithKline (GSK Pharmaceuticals).

Frederick Nathan, son of Joseph Nathan, was Palmerston North mayor from 1923 to 1927.

Both Glaxo baby food and Glaxo medicines were major businesses in the international market at the time.

Joseph’s son, Frederick, was also a Palmerston North mayor from 1923 to 1927.

His most prominent accomplishment while in office was to successfully lobby the government to establish an agricultural college, now known as Massey University in Palmerston North.

The note had stayed within the family ever since, Mowbray Collectables managing director David Galt said.

Descendants of the Nathan family recently inquired about the note and upon discovering its value decided to bring it to the market for the first time, Galt said.

“It’s definitely the most exciting because you’ve got a new discovery.”

Banknote enthusiasts in Australia were also “over the moon” about the discovery of the £1 note, Galt said.

Stephan Robert Lancaster won a Manawatū A&P Show medal for champion jersey cow, in 1902. He was also a borough councillor for Manawatū.

“No one else has an issued example of this note, so it really does make it special.”

Alongside the banknote, a Manawatū Agricultural and Pastoral Association medal given to former Palmerston North borough councillor Stephen Robert Lancaster will also be at the auction.

Lancaster served as a councillor from 1919 to 1923 and won the medal for having the best jersey cow in 1902.

Galt said the medal prize was well-sought after back then.

“Both prestigious and valuable for their high silver content. The temptation to cash them in meant that there are fewer around.”

Lancaster was a “noted breeder” of jersey cows and died in 1925 at the age of 63.

The auction would be held at the West Plaza Hotel in Wellington on March 19 and 20.

The banknote was on offer with an estimate of $12,500, while the medal was expected to sell for about $600.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the bank note was from 1968. (Amended 9.12am, March 18, 2024)