1991 Australia Uncut Pair $10 Fraser Cole Hobart Fair Certificate
Front Description:
Genuine uncut vertical pair of Australian Ten Dollar paper banknotes, issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia and released at the Hobart International Coin, Banknote & Medal Fair in May 1991, accompanied by the matching numbered Note Printing Australia certificate.
Each note is printed in green, orange and yellow with fine engine-turned security underprint, with wide white selvedge at the left edge and the full uncut sheet margin retained between and around the two notes.
The face of each note carries "AUSTRALIA" across the top and the numeral "10" in bold outlined figures at the upper left and upper right, with "TEN DOLLARS" running vertically in green down the left selvedge panel.
The right-hand portrait is of Francis Greenway, the colonial architect, shown in profile-facing three-quarter view with curled hair, high white stock and dark coat, his surname "GREENWAY" engraved beside the portrait. The left two-thirds of the design is an architectural composition of Greenway's buildings and drawings — arched windows, a church spire with cross, a rose window, columned façades, a clock face and architectural plan details, with the inscription "G R 1825" visible among the elements.
Beneath the architectural vignette are the two engraved signatures, captioned "GOVERNOR, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA" (B. W. Fraser) at left and "SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY" (A. S. Cole) at right. Below is the legal tender text: "THIS AUSTRALIAN NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA AND ITS TERRITORIES."
The serial numbers appear at lower left and lower right of each note: the upper note reads "MGH 600790" and the lower note reads "MGJ 600790" — consecutive prefixes with matching numbers, as produced on an uncut sheet.
Condition (technical): uncirculated, approximately UNC grade. Crisp, bright paper with full original colour, no folds, no handling marks, and full uncut margins intact.
Back Description:
Printed in matching green, orange and yellow. Each note carries "AUSTRALIA" across the top with the numeral "10" at the upper left and at the right.
The portrait at left is of Henry Lawson, the Australian poet and short-story writer, shown in three-quarter view with a full moustache, dark suit and tie. Behind and to the right of the portrait is a composition of colonial Australian street scenes rendered in fine line engraving, including shopfronts lettered "TIMES BAKERY," "CIRCULATING LIBRARY," "CHAPPEL B..." and other signage, with figures, a horse-drawn cart, trees and a townscape receding into the distance. A tall telegraph pole or mast structure appears at the far left.
Across the centre right, overlaying the vignette, is a facsimile of Lawson's handwritten manuscript in flowing script, with his signature "Henry Lawson" beneath it.
The accompanying certificate reads: "HOBART INTERNATIONAL COIN, BANKNOTE & MEDAL FAIR, Sheraton International Hotel, 11/12 May, 1991," with an outline map of Tasmania at the upper right containing the certificate number "1743." The body text reads: "NOTE PRINTING AUSTRALIA congratulates the Numismatic Association of Australia in conjunction with the Tasmanian Numismatic Association, on holding its first International Coin, Banknote and Medal Fair. This certificate is one of three thousand issued at this event — with each pair of uncut Australian $10 currency notes purchased. The $10 notes bear the Fraser/Cole signature combination and are the first notes of this variety to be released to the public." The Note Printing Australia logo appears at lower left in green, with a signature at lower right over the caption "R. L. LARKIN, General Manager, Note Printing Australia." At the foot: "Printed on Howard Smith Watermarked Bond Paper." The certificate is framed by an ornate blue decorative border.
Estimated Era:
Confirmed as released 11–12 May 1991 at the Hobart International Coin, Banknote & Medal Fair, held at the Sheraton International Hotel, Hobart, Tasmania. The notes are from the final Australian paper ten dollar series (the Greenway/Lawson design, in issue from 1966 to 1993), bearing the Fraser/Cole signature combination — and, as the certificate states, these uncut pairs were the first notes of that signature variety released to the public. The issue was limited to three thousand certificates, each paired with one uncut pair. Australia replaced the paper ten dollar note with a polymer issue in 1993, making this one of the last paper $10 varieties produced.