Bill of Exchange for One Hundred Pounds Sterling

Country: Australia – Colonial

Van Diemen’s Land Commissariat Office

Bill of Exchange

for One Hundred Pounds Sterling

Hobart Town – No. 5965 – Whitehall, London

30th September 1835

Grade: Extremely Fine

Very Scarce
Only 60 known to exist

Bills of Exchange – 1823-1842

“Bills of Exchange’ were mainly issued by Government from

Hobart Town, Tasmania throughout the early 1800’s and cover monetary exchanges between that colony and England.

A Bill of Exchange was an unconditional order in writing, addressed by one person (the drawer) to another (the drawee) and signed by the person giving it.

The drawee was then required to pay on demand, or at a fixed or determinable future time, a specified sum of money to, or to the order of a specified person, rhe payee of to the bearer. lf the Bill was payable at a future time, the drawee signified acceptance by endorsement.

A Bill of Exchange was not only transferable but also negotiable; attracting an agreed interest premium, usually regulated by the Government, Bills of Exchange are regarded as Australia’s first official paper notes and valuable artefacts in their own right. This superbly preserved example is one of the finest known.