1978 Philippines Six Note Specimen Set Pick Cs1 Unc

1978 Philippines Six Note Specimen Set Pick Cs1 Unc

Specimens as issued by Thomas de La Rue and the Franklin Mint

This is the only specimen set of banknotes listed by Krause for the Philippines between 1961 and 2009.

The Franklin Mint and Thomas de la Rue entered into a joint venture between 1978 and 1980 to print and distribute a series of sets of specimen banknotes from fifteen foreign countries to collectors.

The name given to the project was "Banknotes of the World".

The Wikipedia listing for the Franklin Mint states "For five decades The Franklin Mint produced and marketed 'collectibles'. Their product line began with manufacturing and marketing privately minted gold and silver commemorative rounds and medallions. Besides coins, other offerings included dolls, plates and diecast vehicles."

The Wikipedia listing for Thomas de la Rue states "Thomas de la Rue (24 March 1793 - 7 June 1866) was a printer from Guernsey who founded De La Rue plc, a printing company which is now the world's largest commercial security printer and paper maker."

All of the banknotes in the "Banknotes of the World" series were unissued specimen notes - each note was overprinted with the word "SPECIMEN", and includes the Maltese cross within the serial number prefix.

Although they were initially sold outside the normal numismatic collector market, many of the notes in the "Banknotes of the World" series are now sought after by collectors of the notes issued by the individual countries.