20 Pounds Commercial Bank of Scotland

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.