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3 Pounds National Bank
| Issuer | The National Bank Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1901-1913 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound (1826-1971) |
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| Obverse description | At the top centre, a vignette of Hibernia seated with harp is framed within an ornate engraved border, with the Irish arms at the upper left. The denomination THREE appears in large bold letterpress across the centre, overlaid on a green guilloche oval underprint, with the extensive list of branch offices printed in six columns flanking the central text. The serial number appears twice in the upper field, with the issuer title and "Unlimited for Note Issue" legend at the head of the note and "Three Pounds" in a cartouche at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The National Bank Limited Unlimited for Note Issue I Promise to pay the Bearer on Demand Three Pounds at Dublin For the Directors and Company |
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| Comments |
The National Bank Limited was a New Zealand institution, and this £3 denomination sits in an unusual gap — three-pound notes were never common in New Zealand or anywhere in the sterling world, where £1, £5, and £10 were the functional backbone of private note issue. The denomination was almost certainly driven by practical lending or agricultural settlement needs rather than everyday retail circulation.
Perkins, Bacon & Petch had been engraving security printing in London since the early nineteenth century, with a client list spanning colonial banks across the British Empire. Their intaglio work was considered reliable deterrence against forgery at a time when colonial note security was a genuine operational concern.