1 Pound

The National Bank of South Africa Ltd. was a commercial institution, not a central bank — its notes circulated alongside those of rival private banks until the South African Reserve Bank absorbed the currency-issuing function in 1921. This series straddles that transition directly. Notes dated toward the end of the range were issued knowing full well the bank's days as a note-issuer were numbered.

Waterlow & Sons had a long run of southern African commercial bank work by this period, producing secure, competent printing at competitive cost. The watermark security on this series was modest by contemporary standards — Waterlow was capable of considerably more elaborate work, but private bank contracts rarely demanded it.