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100 Pounds
| Issuer | Union Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1867-1871 |
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| Printer | Perkins Bacon & Company |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a fine intaglio style typical of mid-Victorian Scottish private banking issues. At the upper centre, two allegorical female figures flank a heraldic shield vignette, with the inscription INCORPORATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT above; the denomination numeral 100 appears in oval guilloche panels at upper left and upper right. Below the central vignette, a bold letterpress panel carries the bank title THE UNION BANK OF SCOTLAND, followed by the promise-to-pay text and the denomination ONE HUNDRED POUNDS in large script lettering. Two smaller intaglio vignettes occupy the lower corners, each depicting an equestrian statue against an architectural backdrop, with spaces provided for serial number, cashier signature, and accountant designation. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | INCORPORATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT THE UNION BANK OF SCOTLAND Promise to pay to the Bearer on demand at their head offices in Glasgow or Edinburgh One Hundred Pounds By order of the Directors. CASHIER. ACCOT. SPECIMEN 100 No A |
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| Comments |
Perkins Bacon had by this period developed the steel-engraved security printing techniques that made their banknote work genuinely difficult to counterfeit — a reputation built largely on postage stamp contracts but applied with equal rigour to private Scottish bank issues. The Union Bank of Scotland had been formed by merger in 1830 and operated as one of the larger Scottish joint-stock banks before its eventual absorption into the Bank of Scotland in 1955.
High-denomination Scottish private banknotes of this period rarely circulated in the ordinary sense. A £100 note in the 1860s functioned almost exclusively in commercial and interbank settlement, meaning surviving examples often show comparatively little wear — not because they were cherished, but because they changed hands infrequently and formally.
The Pick 778 designation covers a multi-year window, suggesting date or signatory variants exist within the type.