The second part of the Alan Dow archive collection has just been sold in Toovey’s first specialist auction of Coins, Banknotes and Medallions of 2025. The collection of proof banknotes, including trials and test strikes realised more than £125,000.
Toovey’s coin, banknote and medallion specialist Mark Stonard commented “This was a remarkable collection. Many of the notes were unique and illustrated the painstaking process of creating the portrait image. They were from the personal archive of the late Alan Dow, master banknote engraver to Bradbury Wilkinson & Co and the Bank of England. Alan Dow was apprenticed to the prestigious Bradbury Wilkinson where he worked for thirty years in the slow meticulous way required of a master bank note engraver. He also worked for De la Rue later in his career. Both prestigious firms in the world of printing, especially in the production of stamps and bank notes. Alan engraved onto steel plates. It would take him more than three months of painstaking work to produce the final image. He used a low powered binocular microscope to ensure accuracy but despite this his portraits have an unexpected spontaneity.”
Alan Dow engraved several portraits of HM Queen Elizabeth II for a number of our Bank Notes, but with great humility famously said that he had “…never really engraved a satisfactory portrait of the Queen. I think everyone has there own ideas as to how she looks…” I explain to Mark how Alan’s comments bring to mind a fond memory of my Grandpa who always used to refer to money as “portraits of the Queen.” Mark smiles and says “Interestingly it was two lots produced for the Middle East which achieved the highest prices. A lot of five extremely rare United Arab Emirates partial banknote progressive die proof engraver’s test strikes for the obverse of a one thousand dirhams note achieved £12,000. The extremely rare Central Bank of Iraq partial banknote die proof engraver’s test strike for the obverse of a five dinars note in red dates from around 1953. The portrait vignette is of the young King Faisal II. Also in this lot were two further die proof engraver’s test strike vignettes of King Faisal II in black. They realised £9,500.
Mark Stonard is always pleased to share his passion for coins, banknotes and medallions with collectors and specialists at Toovey’s.