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20 Shillings Sterling = 1 Pound
| Issuer | Royal Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1825 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Guilloche underprint |
| Protection description | Intricate guilloche rosette patterns printed as underprint elements, including oval medallions flanking the central text and a vertical column of interlocking ovals in the lower centre, intended to deter counterfeiting. |
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| Comments |
The Royal Bank of Scotland had been issuing pound-denominated notes since its founding in 1727, but the dual denomination inscription — shillings on one side of the equation, pounds on the other — reflects a genuine practical tension in early nineteenth-century Scottish banking. English visitors and merchants often struggled with Scottish note conventions, and spelling out the sterling equivalence was a commercial courtesy as much as a legal formality.
By 1825 the guilloche underprint was still relatively new technology in Scottish note production, introduced partly in response to the wave of forgeries that had plagued the previous decade. The same forgery crisis that prompted this security shift also sparked a parliamentary debate that year over whether Scottish banks should be stripped of their one-pound note privileges entirely — a proposal Sir Walter Scott famously fought in print under the pseudonym "Malachi Malagrowther."
The campaign succeeded. Scottish banks kept their small notes.