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15 Pounds White, 1778 issue
| Issuer | Bank of England |
|---|---|
| Year | 1778-1807 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#151 |
| Obverse description | Unprinted white note in the classic Bank of England "white note" tradition, with the Britannia vignette within an ornate cartouche at the upper left. The body of the note is occupied by the handwritten and letterpress promise-to-pay text issued on behalf of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, with the denomination FIFTEEN Pounds rendered in bold blackletter script. Manuscript date, cashier's signature, and entry notations appear in period copperplate hand throughout. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Bank of England's early handwritten notes occupy a peculiar place in monetary history — they were legal instruments as much as currency, each one individually signed and dated by a cashier. This 15-pound denomination sits in an awkward middle ground: high enough to be a serious commercial instrument, yet not the round-sum notes that dominated interbank clearing. The £15 value was likely dictated by a specific commercial need rather than any systematic denomination planning.
Forgery was the defining crisis for this series. William Wynne Ryland, executed in 1783, and a wave of subsequent cases pushed the Bank toward increasingly aggressive prosecution — a policy that remained brutal through the Napoleonic period. Survivors of this issue are genuinely rare; most circulated hard before being cancelled.