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20 Pounds Commercial Bank of Scotland
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1910-1923 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | P#S325 |
| Obverse description | The upper centre is occupied by a vignette of the Commercial Bank of Scotland's principal building façade, flanked left and right by subsidiary architectural vignettes, all set within an intricate guilloche border. The central field carries the letterpress promise-to-pay obligation in formal banking text, with the denomination rendered in words. Fine geometric lathe-work ornamentation frames the entire composition. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse, printed in blue, is dominated by an elaborate guilloche framework of radiating floral and rosette patterns filling the entire field. At centre, the bank's circular seal encloses an allegorical seated female figure amid symbols of commerce and industry, surrounded by the circular charter legend. The numeral '20' appears in each of the four corners within the ornamental guilloche border. |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of Scotland was one of the major Edinburgh-based joint-stock banks chartered in the early nineteenth century, and by the Edwardian period its large-denomination notes occupied a fairly narrow commercial niche — settling wholesale trade balances, not passing through ordinary hands. A £20 note in daily retail circulation would have been extraordinary; most movement happened between merchants, agents, and counting houses.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced engraved Scottish commercial banknotes to a consistently high technical standard, and their work for multiple Scottish issuers during this period means plate quality alone does little to distinguish provenance. The long issue window — over a decade — suggests relatively light throughput at this denomination, with individual notes potentially remaining in occasional use for years before redemption.
The Commercial Bank merged into the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1959.