English Series Specimens

Hi,

I'm new to this forum. I need assistance identifying a few specimen notes from my English series collection. All of them have similar overprints as shown below.

I've checked the Pick Catalogue but found limited information from that resource. The signatures are of Macapagal & Castillo. I'm not sure if this is P.135s4 or P.135s5. Can anyone clarify if this is a De La Rue overprint or not?



Thanks,
Jansen

I thought specimens have no serial number???

I just remembered the guy I saw on TV...the person who's making private overprints and making money out of it.

Newbie wrote:

I thought specimens have no serial number???

I just remembered the guy I saw on TV...the person who's making private overprints and making money out of it.

Hi,

Specimens may or may not have serial numbers depending on the issuing authority. BankNoteClub.com describes the features of specimen banknotes in detail -- http://www.banknoteclub.com/Content/special.php

As far as I know, BSP (like the central/reserve banks of Australia, PNG, Samoa & Vietnam) releases specimen notes with serial nos. Considering the purpose of issuing specimens is to inform other central banks of the country's newly designed banknotes, to me it makes sense having serial numbers printed on them to indicate the font type, color and number of digits used on those banknotes.

I would be concerned though if the 'SPECIMEN' overprints in my collection were different from those officially released by BSP.

Cheers,
Jansen

I'm sorry to tell you this is not a De La Rue specimen. De La Rue's have a lot of other overprints on them, not just the word SPECIMEN. most are numbered and you'll see "No.1" (or another number) printed in the white margins at the top or bottom and some have 000000 serials. There are so many non De La Rue specimen overprints that thay are next to worthless (a dime a dozen) and there are no records of how many were printed. I have sold off all my specimens except for a couple of full sheets I keep to impress friends. If you do find a De La Rue with the numbers or a small oval shape De La Rue overprint, GRAB IT! They're as rare as hens teeth!

Hi pinoynotes,

Thanks for describing what De La Rue specimens look like. I've never seen one before. This piece of information is truly helpful.

Glad I joined this forum

Cheers,
Jansen

@Pinoynotes...What do you mean by "There are so many non-De La Rue specimen overprints that thay are next to worthless ?" Do you mean that there are private specimen overprints by some unscrupulous individuals with the motive of monetary gain?

I don't collect counterstamp coins because of so many proliferating dubious counterstamps. That's the advice given to me by an older collector.

Hi Newbie, What I meant by saying non De La Rue specimens "are next to worthless"" is because there are so many out there. The P5 Macapagal & Castillo, whos picture is shown here, is nearly as common as a specimen, as a normal note. Don't get me wrong, some Specimens are worth getting, but most are very common and will never increase in value like some other issues. I got rid of 90% of my specimens (about 70 notes), the only ones I kept were the "off beat" ones, like a P100 Aquino-Fernandez Specimen overprinted Starnote *0559746, it has red serial numbers but All other P100 Aquino-Fernandez notes have black serials. Anything strange is worth keeping.

Some De La Rue Specimens so you can see the difference....

Wow, a picture is worth a thousand words. Just with the change of signatures from Quirino/Cuaderno to Garcia/Castillo, it appears that the manner by which overprints were applied to the notes were changed as well. Font sizes of specimen nos. on the margins were reduced. Quirino/Cuaderno notes have one oval overprint on face whereas Garcia/Castillo had two. And the latter had holes punched on the signatures.

Very interesting, indeed. Thanks for sharing this picture.

Do you have scans for other signature varieties? Or perhaps refer me to a website that holds such information?

These are really nice notes. I've been visiting BSP museum but I never saw these notes.

coincoin wrote:

Some De La Rue Specimens so you can see the difference....

Very nice pictures.

I bought a 20P English Series TDLR Specimen Note Gar-Cas (Acting) in UNC from Mel Steinberg for US$ 250.00 in 1994 ($1=Php 30.00) it also had a specimen number as shown in the pic. Years later I traded the TDLR specimen for a rare Phil-Am book to a US dealer from Columbia, Maryland. I was selling it to him at my acquisition cost but he claimed item was overpriced. He was willing to make a trade though with a book similarly priced in his "For Sale" list.

BTW, the punch holes are "normal".

@notaphilypino

What book did you trade for your note? Can you give me the title? You might PM me. Thanks!