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1 Pound Leith Banking Company
| Issuer | Leith Banking Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1838 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black ink by intaglio on white paper, with an ornate engraved border framing the entire note. A central oval vignette at the top renders a detailed townscape of Leith harbour with vessels and buildings; to the left, a vertical cartouche encloses a full-length figure of a Scottish warrior in Highland dress within a wreathed oval medallion, surrounded by elaborate lathe-work ornament. The denomination 'One Pound' appears in bold copperplate script flanking the harbour vignette, with the promise-to-pay text and issuer name in flowing cursive script below, above the printer's imprint of Perkins & Bacon at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Leith Banking Company ONE POUND The Leith Banking Company Promise to pay Henry Johnston or Bearer TWENTY SHILLINGS Sterling on demand at their Office in Leith By order of the Directors |
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| Comments |
The Leith Banking Company was a relatively short-lived provincial Scottish institution, established in 1793 and absorbed into the Commercial Bank of Scotland in 1842 — meaning notes of this period were in active circulation only briefly before being called in. The four-year window between this issue and the merger makes survivors uncommon.
Perkins, Bacon & Petch were the dominant security printers of the period, their steel intaglio process borrowed from American banknote practice and introduced to Britain by Jacob Perkins himself. That technology, not the issuing bank's prestige, is what gave this note its forgery resistance.