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5 Pounds British Linen Bank
| Issuer | British Linen Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1910 |
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| Currency | Pound sterling (1707-1970) |
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| Obverse description | Printed in blue and red on white paper, the obverse carries the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom at upper centre — supported by a lion and unicorn with the motto DIEU ET MON DROIT — surmounted by the inscription 'Incorporated by Royal Charter 1746'. A vertical left border panel contains three ornate oval guilloche vignettes, the central one enclosing a seated allegorical female figure with shield and spear, flanked above and below by decorative rosette medallions. Two scalloped 'FIVE' denomination cartouches appear to either side of the arms, with matching serial number panels below, while the promise-to-pay text and bank name are set in bold letterpress across the lower centre, overprinted with large red 'B.L.B.' initials as a security underprint; the printer's imprint of Waterlow & Sons, 14 London Wall, London appears at the foot. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted, presenting a plain cream paper surface with no design, lettering, or decorative elements. |
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| Comments |
The British Linen Bank — formally the British Linen Company — began as a textile trading concern chartered in 1746, and didn't drop the word "linen" from its name until 1906, well after its commercial origins had become purely historical. By 1910 it was a full-service Scottish clearing bank, but the anachronistic name persisted until its absorption into the Bank of Scotland in 1969.
Waterlow & Sons had a long relationship with Scottish provincial issuers, and their engraved work for the British Linen Bank is among the more technically accomplished of the Edwardian period. Scottish private note issue survived the Bank Charter Act of 1844 intact — an exemption that allowed banks like this one to continue circulating their own paper well into the twentieth century.