100 Pounds Sterling

The National Bank of Scotland was established by royal charter in 1825, making this 1831 note among the earliest issues from an institution less than a decade old. Scottish banks retained the legal right to issue their own notes — a privilege English provincial banks lost under the Bank Charter Act of 1844 — and the National Bank exercised that right aggressively from the outset, printing across a full denomination range to compete with the already-dominant Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank.

At £100, this was not a note that passed through ordinary hands. Wholesale trade settlements and inter-merchant transfers were its natural environment. The dry seal impression, applied without moisture or wax, was the primary anti-forgery measure available at the time — rudimentary by later standards, but consistent with early 1830s Scottish banking practice.