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100 Pounds Sterling
| Issuer | Union Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1848-1862 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a classic early Victorian Scottish banking style, with the bank title "The Union Bank of Scotland" in ornate script across the centre. A central vignette above the text presents an equestrian statue before a classical building facade, flanked on each side by seated allegorical female figures rendered in fine intaglio work. The denomination "100" appears in oval guilloche panels at upper left and upper right, while a vertical column of repeating oval underprint vignettes inscribed with the bank name runs along the left margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The Union Bank of Scotland Promise to pay the Bearer on demand One Hundred Pounds Sterling at their Office here in Glasgow By Order of the Directors No. Ent'd Acco't Cashier |
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| Comments |
The Union Bank of Scotland was formed in 1830 through the merger of several Glasgow-based banking partnerships, and its higher denominations — including this £100 — circulated primarily as interbank instruments and commercial settlement tools rather than in ordinary retail trade. A Scottish £100 note in the 1850s represented roughly four months' wages for a skilled tradesman, making hand-to-hand use essentially theoretical.
Scottish banks retained the legal right to issue their own notes independently of the Bank of England throughout this period, a privilege that survived repeated parliamentary scrutiny. The Union Bank's Glasgow printing operation kept production in-house, which was not universal among Scottish issuers of the era.
The bank was absorbed by the Bank of Scotland in 1955.