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20 Pounds Commercial Bank of Scotland
| Issuer | Commercial Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1924-1943 |
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| Printer | Waterlow & Sons Limited, United Kingdom (1810-1961) |
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| Obverse description | The upper portion of the note carries an architectural vignette of the Commercial Bank of Scotland's building facade, rendered in fine detail. At the lower centre, a portrait vignette of John Pitcairn is set within the composition. The face text, executed in period letterpress typography, presents the bank's formal promise-to-pay inscription together with the denomination and issuing authority. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited Promise to pay the bearer on demand Twenty Pounds Sterling At the office here Edinburgh By order of the Court of Directors |
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| Comments |
The Commercial Bank of Scotland was one of the last major Scottish banks to retain fully independent note-issuing operations before the mid-20th century consolidation that eventually absorbed it into the National Commercial Bank in 1959. This £20 denomination sat at the upper end of everyday commercial use — high enough that most examples passing through merchant hands would have been handled carefully, yet the wartime years of this series brought unusual strain on note stocks as banking volume shifted dramatically.
Waterlow & Sons had a long relationship with Scottish chartered banks, producing work of consistently high intaglio quality. The P#S329 series is known to have relatively low surviving numbers at the £20 level, as higher-denomination notes were more frequently cancelled and retained by the issuing bank rather than released back into general circulation.