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1 Guinea = 1 Pound 1 Shilling Sterling
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1810-1818 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Commercial Bank of Scotland The Commercial Banking Company of Scotland promise to pay to or Bearer One Pound One Shilling Sterling on Demand at their Office here Edinburgh By Order of the Committee of Management Cashier No. GUINEA £1.1 ONE |
| Reverse description | The reverse of this early Scottish private banknote is unprinted, left plain as was typical for hand-signed provincial issues of this period, with no vignette, text, or security underprint. |
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| Comments |
The guinea denomination — 21 shillings — was a peculiarity of Scottish private banking in the early nineteenth century, used to sidestep the legal restrictions that governed pound-denominated notes under English law. Scottish banks exploited the fact that the 1765 Act forbidding notes under 20 shillings did not technically cover a 21-shilling instrument, giving them flexibility in small-denomination circulation that English country banks lacked.
The Commercial Bank of Scotland was founded in 1810, so the earliest issues in this series date from the bank's first year of operation. Notes from the opening years of a newly chartered institution — before redundant stock was accumulated — tend to survive in far smaller numbers than mid-series issues.