1 Pound

The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited was a commercial institution — not a central bank — yet it retained the right to issue its own banknotes in South Africa well into the twentieth century, a privilege that had been under legislative pressure since the Currency and Banking Act of 1920. That Act transferred the central note-issuing function to the South African Reserve Bank, but the commercial banks were permitted to continue issuing against gold reserves under strict conditions, a right the Standard Bank held onto until the final transitional arrangements wound down.

Waterlow & Sons produced a long run of South African commercial bank paper during this period, and the Pick 8 series spans over two decades — suggesting relatively consistent monetary conditions rather than emergency or wartime reissue.