Celebrated visual artist Romeo Mananquil, who migrated to Canada two decades ago, has an ax to grind with the central bank, for which he designed (together with two other Filipino artists) a series of banknotes and coins during the 1980s.

Our sources say Mananquil (who is identified with the flora and fauna coin series) was upset after recently finding out that his design for the now-demonetized P5 note—the green one that depicts Emilio Aguinaldo hoisting the Philippine flag in Kawit, Cavite—was used by the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, or BSP, for the P100,000 centennial notes printed in 1999—allegedly without his consent and with some alteration.

Only 1,000 of these notes were issued in 1998 to commemorate the Centennial of Independence from more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule. The notes were intended for collectors. The initial offering price was 180,000 Piso ($4175), substantially higher than the face value.

The 100,000 Piso note, measuring 356mm x 216mm (about the size of a legal page), is accredited by the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest legal tender note in terms of size.

Mananquil has sent his lawyers to assert his legal rights over the artwork, lamenting its “economic exploitation.”

Its lawyers argue that the central bank is considered as a co-owner of the artwork and therefore has the right to use it with or without the artist’s permission.

The artist’s lawyers recently wrote the Monetary Board, the policymaking body of the BSP, to appeal his case. Will this debate over intellectual property rights erupt into a courtroom battle?

Spink has announced the sale of the famous Number Eight £1,000,000 note. It is believed that only two notes of this high denomination exist in the world today, the other numbered 000007.

The million pound note was issued in connection with the Marshall Aid Plan after World War II and was intended for internal use as ‘records of movement,’ for a period of six weeks only. It is believed that nine examples were produced and only two, Numbers Seven and Eight, survived.

The two notes were given as mementoes to the respective U.S. and U.K. Treasury Secretaries. The Number Seven was first sold in 1977 and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as being the highest denomination note in private hands.

The 8-inch-wide green banknote, numbered 000008, was issued by the Bank of England on Aug. 30, 1948, in connection with the Marshall Aid Plan in the aftermath of World War II. It bears the signature of E. E. Bridges in the lower right hand corner and is cancelled over the signature and stamped 6 October 1948, Bank of England.  Spink’s  said the defunct note, entered for sale by the U.K.-based banknote collector Bill Parkinson, may fetch 35,000 pounds to 40,000 pounds at its Oct. 1 sale of world banknotes.

“This is the highest denomination of banknote we’ve ever sold,” said Barnaby Faull, director of banknotes at Spink. “There are hyperinflation Weimar-period notes for 10 billion marks, but they would only have bought a cup of coffee.” (more…)

Auction Features Two Outstanding Collections, “The East Bay Collection of International Banknotes” and “The Eduard Kann Chinese Banknote Collection”

IRVINE, Calif. – Bowers and Merena Auctions, America’s leading rare coin and currency auction house, will conduct an auction of exceptional international banknotes in New York City on October 27-28, 2008, with lot viewing at the auction site October 25-28. The auction is compiled of two premier collections, “The East Bay Collection of International Banknotes” and “The Eduard Kann Chinese Banknote Collection,”consisting of more than 2,000 total lots. It will be held at the Hilton Times Square, with live auction simulcasts at the John Bull Auctions offices in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong, and the Heinrich Köhler Auktionshaus offices in Wiesbaden, Germany. Pre-auction lot viewing will be available in multiple locations around the world, including California, Germany and Hong Kong, as well as at the Maastricht Paper Money Show in the Netherlands, the PCDA Paper Money Convention in St. Louis, Mo., and prior to the auction in New York. The auction will be spearheaded by Bowers and Merena in conjunction with sister companies John Bull Auctions, Ltd., of Hong Kong, and Heinrich Köhler Auktionshaus of Germany. Complete lot viewing and auction schedules are available at www.bowersandmerena.com.

“The East Bay Collection” is believed to be the largest collection of international banknotes ever to come to market. Assembled over the course of 40 years by a private collector in Northern California, it consists of more than 30,000 notes representative of over 150 countries. The entire collection will be auctioned over the coming year in multiple auctions around the world, debuting in this October auction with Chinese and related Asian banknotes and Russian and European banknotes.

“The East Bay Collection” was secured by Ronald J. Gillio, numismatic acquisition coordinator for Bowers and Merena Auctions and world coin and banknote specialist. “The scope of this collection is absolutely wonderful in both quantity and quality, and without question the most comprehensive collection I’ve ever known,” said Gillio. “The Russia and China sections constitute by far the strongest groupings of the collection,” he added. There are approximately 2,800 Chinese banknotes and 2,500 Russian banknotes included in the collection. (more…)