Gisborne history behind rare 1800s banknote up for auction

A promissory note issued by 19th-century trader Gisborne Captain Wiliam Read is up for auction at the Mowbray Collectables auction in Wellington on Friday and Saturday. The note is estimated to be worth $3000.

A little-known part of Gisborne’s colonial history will feature in an auction of rare coins, banknotes and medals in Wellington this week.

One lot on offer at the Mowbray Collectables auction is a rare, unissued £1 note, or promissory note, created by noted Gisborne settler and trader George Read.

Mowbray Collectables estimates the £1 note is worth $3000.

In 19th-century New Zealand, trading banks and shops issued their own notes.

Banks did not have to accept each other’s notes, though most did.

Notes issued by shops were given as change and could only be used at that store.

Read established a store on the banks of the Tūranganui River in the late 1840s.

He ran coastal trading vessels and became a prominent citizen, investor and landowner who helped settlers get passage to and employment in Gisborne.

Considered by some to be unscrupulous, Read was elected to Parliament in 1876 but was later dismissed after a parliamentary commission of inquiry.

The commission found one of his agents issued voters with pieces of cardboard that could be redeemed in public bars.

Captain George Read was a prominent citizen, trader and businessman in colonial 19th century Gisborne. Photo / Tairawhiti Museum

Multiple groups of World War I medals will go under the hammer at the auction.

One group of three was awarded to William Kemp Rennie, who worked as a carpenter in Tolaga Bay in 1915.

He enlisted with the Wellington Infantry Regiment as a corporal on April 16 that year.

Rennie served in Egypt, Gallipoli and on the Western Front and was promoted to sergeant in 1916.

He was discharged on June 2, 1919, and returned to Tolaga Bay and his carpentry career.

His medals are estimated to be worth $250.

Among the World War 1 medals for sale at the Mowbray Collectables auction scheduled for Friday and Saturday are three awarded to Tolaga Bay infantryman William Rennie

Other items for auction on Friday and Saturday include a sheet of “Teddy Bear” health stamps issued in error in 1996, estimated to be worth $50,000, coins from shipwrecks and a rare set of Irish 1928-31 coins with an estimated worth of $12,000.