1 Pound National Bank of Scotland

The National Bank of Scotland was formed in 1825 and operated independently until its 1959 merger with the Commercial Bank of Scotland to form the National Commercial Bank. This note spans a remarkably long print run — over three decades from the same Waterlow plate series — which accounts for the considerable variation in signatures encountered across examples. The bank maintained branches throughout Scotland but concentrated its commercial strength in the central belt.

Waterlow & Sons produced Scottish chartered bank notes extensively during this period, and wear patterns on surviving examples tend to concentrate along horizontal fold lines, consistent with notes folded to pocket width for daily mercantile use rather than large-denomination reserve holding.