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1 Pound Bank of Scotland
| Issuer | Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1881 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black on white paper with a purple guilloche underprint, the note carries two engraved circular vignettes at left — the upper showing an equestrian figure with the motto 'DEO FAVENTE' and date 1695, the lower bearing the Scottish royal arms with motto — framed within an ornate engraved border with scrollwork. To the right, a central allegorical vignette above the text field shows two classical female figures flanking the Bank of Scotland coat of arms with the Saltire; the denomination 'ONE' appears in large letters across the upper register with ribbon cartouches reading 'ONE POUND' at either side. The date 'EDINBURGH 10 MARCH 1881' is inscribed at upper right, with the denomination '£1' at lower left and manuscript signatures of the Accountant and Teller below the promise text. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Edinburgh Bank of Scotland The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland promise to pay here to the bearer on demand ONE POUND Stg By order of the Court of Directors Constituted by Act of Parliament 1695 |
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| Comments |
Perkins, Bacon & Co. had already spent decades supplying security-printed material to colonial governments and railway companies by the time this note was produced, but their relationship with the Bank of Scotland represented one of their more durable Scottish commissions. The firm's steel-engraving method, developed from Jacob Perkins's original patents, gave the printed surface a tactile depth that lithographic competitors struggled to replicate — a deliberate anti-forgery measure, not merely an aesthetic one.
The Bank of Scotland's 1881 series predates the consolidation wave that would reshape Scottish private banking by the early twentieth century, leaving the institution as one of the few to maintain continuous note-issuing rights into the present day.