Rare Modern Banknotes – Paper Decimal

In this issue, I continue a 5 part series on the toughest 25 paper decimal banknotes to find.

Part 1 was introduced in the December 2025/January 2026 edition of this magazine, with Part 2 included in the March 2026 issue. If you haven’t yet read those articles, I would suggest doing so, as it gives interesting context and background information on the beginning of this collecting theme.

This article (Part 3) includes notes 11 to 15 in our ‘countdown’, with numbers 1 to 10 featured in the remainder of the series.

15: $20 1983 R408L Johnston/Stone Last Prefix VQK(999,930 printed)

A scarce prefix with approximately 5 or 6 known. There are no Uncirculated (Unc) examples noted, with the best grade seen being About Uncirculated (aUnc).

There have been no examples offered on the market for quite a few years now.

The most recent example that I came across was sold at auction in 2020. It was described as being in aUnc condition and realised $408 (including Buyer’s Premium).

It will be interesting to see if more of these come to light, as the quantity produced would suggest that should be the case.