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20 Pounds Bank of Scotland
| Issuer | Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1890-1930 |
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| Currency | Pound sterling (1707-1970) |
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| Obverse description | Brown intaglio print on cream paper, with the Bank of Scotland arms vignette at centre top flanked by two allegorical figures, and diamond-shaped panels bearing the word TWENTY at upper left and upper right. The left margin carries a vertical column of circular medallions with the Scottish arms and bank cipher in guilloche work. The date EDINBURGH and the issue date appear at right, with the serial number and secretary's manuscript signature printed below the central text block. Denomination panels reading £20 appear at lower left and lower right within ornamental frames. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The Governor & Company of the Bank of Scotland Promise to pay here to the Bearer on Demand Twenty Pounds Sterling By order of the Court of Directors Constituted by Act of Parliament 1695 |
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| Comments |
G. Waterston & Sons handled Bank of Scotland's printing requirements for most of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries — a long-standing Edinburgh arrangement that kept production entirely domestic at a time when many Scottish banks were outsourcing to London printers. The four sequential cashier signatures spanning 1890 to 1930 reflect the unusually stable management tenure at the bank during this period; each signatory served for years, not months.
The £20 denomination was not a note for everyday commerce. At a time when skilled workers earned well under £100 annually, these circulated almost exclusively in commercial and inter-bank settlements. Survival rates are accordingly low — high-value notes were redeemed promptly rather than kept as keepsakes.