Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Pound Jersey Bank - Philip Le Couteur
| Issuer | Jersey Bank (Philip Le Couteur) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1820 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Engraved vignette at lower left showing the Jersey coat of arms supported by a lion and a crowned shield, surrounded by a laurel wreath and agricultural implements in a classical style. The body of the note is entirely in letterpress copperplate script, with the bank title 'Jersey Bank' in large ornamental lettering across the top, flanked on both sides by the serial number. A rectangular panel at lower left carries the denomination 'ONE POUND' in bold letterpress. The date, value, and promise-to-pay text are completed in manuscript, with multiple handwritten signatures at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse is blank, without any printed design, lettering, or ornamentation, as was typical of private island banknotes of this early nineteenth-century period. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Philip Le Couteur operated one of several private banking houses active in Jersey during the early nineteenth century, when the island had no central issuing authority and individual merchants could — and did — put their own paper into circulation. These notes functioned on personal credit and local trust rather than any statutory backing. Le Couteur's bank did not survive long, and the failure of private Jersey banks in this period was common enough that contemporary islanders treated such paper with considerable caution.
The dual signature requirement — Le Couteur himself alongside Jean Salmon — suggests a partnership arrangement, though the precise terms are obscure. Survivors of this issue are genuinely rare.