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1 Pound Royal Bank of Scotland
| Issuer | Royal Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937-1964 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 150 × 84 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse carries the bank's heraldic crest with a portrait of George I at the top centre, flanked by allegorical figures of Britannia at lower left and Plenty at lower right, all set within an ornate engraved border. The promise-to-pay text is rendered in letterpress across the central field, accompanied by a printed facsimile signature. Guilloche underprint work fills the background. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark blue on a fine guilloche underprint, with two oval vignettes framing a central stylised numeral "1": the left vignette presents the Royal Bank's Edinburgh head office and the right vignette the Glasgow branch, each captioned with the respective city name. The bank title appears in a curved banner at the top and the denomination in large lettering at the foot, the whole composition enclosed within an elaborate engraved floral and scroll border. |
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| Comments |
Scottish banks retained the right to issue their own banknotes under the Bank Notes (Scotland) Act 1845, which required them to hold equivalent Bank of England notes in reserve for any circulation beyond a fixed authorized limit — a constraint that shaped how carefully institutions like the Royal Bank managed their printing runs. This long-running series spans the better part of three decades, bridging prewar sterling and the postwar austerity years without a significant redesign.
W. & A. K. Johnston was primarily a cartographic and engraving house before its banking print work became prominent. The merger with G. W. Bacon — itself a London map publisher — consolidated the Edinburgh operation but the Scottish notes continued to be produced locally throughout.