5 Pounds

The Central Bank of Ireland's Lady Lavery series, of which this is a higher denomination, was printed by Waterlow & Sons throughout this period — the same London firm responsible for the infamous 1925 Portuguese escudo forgery scandal, though Waterlow's Irish commissions were never implicated in any such irregularity. The signature pairings here trace a quiet institutional history: Joseph Brennan served as first Governor of the Central Bank from its 1943 establishment, with J.J. McElligott as Secretary of the Department of Finance countersigning. McElligott outlasted Brennan, then signed alongside Owen Redmond, and finally with T.K. Whitaker — whose appointment in 1956 preceded the landmark 1958 economic programme that transformed Irish policy.

Notes dated before 1952 carry the Brennan/McElligott pairing exclusively; the 1953 transition date is sharp enough to be useful for attribution.