Catalog
150 Pounds, 8 Shillings & 8 Pence 1699 printed running cash note
| Issuer | Bank of England |
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| Year | 1699 |
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| Currency | Pound sterling (1158-1970) |
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| Obverse description | Printed running cash note in letterpress, with the Bank of England's early vignette of a seated Britannia at upper left — one of the earliest known appearances of this iconic device. The body of the note is occupied by a handwritten and printed text promise to pay, dated 24 June 1699, with the denomination expressed in both words and figures. The note is issued in the name of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England. |
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| Obverse lettering | I Promise to pay to _ or Bearer on Demand the Summe of One hundred & fifty pounds Eight /- & 8d - London the 24 day of June 1699. £ For the Governor and Company of the Bank of England |
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| Comments |
Running cash notes were the Bank of England's earliest form of circulating paper money — partially printed forms completed by hand at the time of issue, with the payee name, date, and sum filled in by a cashier. This example, made out for the oddly precise sum of £150 8s 8d, reflects the Bank's practice of issuing notes for exact deposit amounts rather than round denominations, a system that persisted until the shift toward fixed denominations in the early eighteenth century.
By 1699 the Bank was barely four years old, chartered in 1694 primarily to fund William III's war against France. Notes from this period are among the earliest surviving examples of English paper currency and essentially function as bearer receipts.