An early April sale by Stack’s-Bowers of a remarkable private bank note bearing a portrait of Edward Windsor was all the excuse needed to revisit the relatively few pieces of paper money that show portraits of Edward.
That particular note, by the way, was a Merchants Bank of Canada $5 of 1919 bearing plate letter A and serial number 000001 (P-S1172; CC-7). It sold for U.S. $48,000 on an estimate of $40,000-60,000. The same note with the same estimate had been offered by Stack’s-Bowers in August 2020. It was then passed-in when bids failed to reach the $40,000 reserve.
Background
Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David was born on June 23, 1894, heir to the throne of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, Dependencies & Colonies of the British Empire. On his sixteenth birthday in 1911 he was created Prince of Wales, seven weeks after his father, George V, succeeded as king. He ascended to the throne as Edward VIII following George’s death on Jan. 20, 1936. He would reign for just 326 days before abdicating on Dec. 10, 1936.
The story of Edward’s few coins has often been told. The story of his bank notes less so. An excellent compendium of Edward’s bank notes can be found in Spink’s Portraits of a Prince compiled by Joseph S. Giordano Jr. It includes issued notes, specimens, proofs and essays.
The notes of few countries are involved. In the first half of
