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20 Pounds
| Issuer | The Natal Bank Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1903 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark blue-black intaglio on a pale blue-grey underprint, with large numeral '20' cornerpieces and an elaborate foliate border. A central vignette depicts two allegorical female figures flanking a heraldic shield beneath an arched guilloche frame, with the bank's name 'THE NATAL BANK LIMITED' in bold serif lettering below. The promise-to-pay text, place of issue 'HARRISMITH, ORANGE RIVER COLONY', date '1st OCTOBER 1903', and a large 'CANCELLED' overprint appear in the lower portion, with manuscript serial numbers D0001 and D0250 visible at left and right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in blue, with an intricate all-over guilloche design of interlocking rosettes and lathe-work panels filling the field. A central oval cartouche in intaglio carries the denomination 'TWENTY POUNDS' in bold serif lettering, flanked by elaborate engine-turned scrollwork. The bank name 'THE NATAL BANK LIMITED' is distributed across the upper and lower margins, with the numeral '20' repeated in each of the four corners within ornate medallions. |
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| Comments |
The Natal Bank Limited was incorporated in 1854 and operated as one of the principal commercial banks serving the Colony of Natal through the turbulent years of the Anglo-Boer War and its aftermath. By 1903, the bank was handling reconstruction finance across a region still absorbing the consequences of wartime disruption to trade and agriculture.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced notes of consistently high intaglio quality, and the £20 denomination would have seen extremely limited circulation — a sum equivalent to several months' wages for most colonial workers. High-value notes of this type frequently survived in better condition simply because fewer hands touched them, though the Natal Bank itself was absorbed into the National Bank of South Africa in 1914, at which point remaining stocks were called in.
Surviving examples of P#S465D are genuinely scarce.