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20 Shillings Royal Bank of Scotland
| Issuer | Royal Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1727 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Pound |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | An engraved oval portrait vignette of a wigged royal figure in regal dress occupies the upper left corner. The remainder of the face is given over entirely to manuscript and letterpress text in period copperplate script, setting out the bank's promise to pay Twenty Shillings Sterling on demand, with the date Edinburgh, 8th December 1727 entered by hand, along with handwritten signatures of bank officials below the printed text of the Court of Directors' authorisation. A vertical border of decorative ruled lines runs along the left margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Entirely plain, unprinted reverse on aged laid paper, showing fold lines consistent with the note having been carried in circulation. A pencilled collector's notation appears in the upper left corner. |
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| Comments |
The Royal Bank of Scotland was incorporated by royal charter in May 1727, and this note dates to that founding year — making it among the earliest issues the bank ever produced. The RBS was established in part as a Unionist counterweight to the Bank of Scotland, which had Jacobite associations that made London uneasy. Politics, not commerce, drove its creation.
Scottish banknotes of this period were promises payable on demand in coin, but the RBS introduced the overdraft facility in 1728, a financial innovation with consequences far beyond Scotland. The 125 × 125 mm square format is unusual and immediately distinguishes early RBS issues from contemporaries.