Michael N. writes: I have a 1723 50 schilling and I was wondering if you could tell me what this piece’s approximate value is to a collector. I have paper work and documentation.
I’m not sure what you have or from what country. Austria uses the term Schilling but not until the 20th century. The earliest Austrian paper money that I know about would be the 1759 Wiener Stadt Banco issues and those are denominated in Gulden. The term Shilling (spelled differently than the Austrian denomination) from Great Britain was not used as a denomination on currency that was issued by the Bank of England prior to the 20th century. The first shilling denominated note was the 1914 Treasury issues – 10 shillings.
The earliest Bank of England paper money goes back to 1694 but those again are only issued in pound denominations. In any case there is no 1723 issue but there are pound denominated issues of 1725 and 1739.
The answer to your question about what it is, is in your hands. The issuer would be clearly apparent on the note as well as its obligation. Since paper money in this era was more like a promissory note and not currency, you might have a privately issued note from a individual, company or some other entity. It seems that you might want to include that information in your description.
