5 Pounds Clydesdale Bank

Clydesdale Bank was acquired by Midland Bank in 1987, and by the time this series launched in 1990, National Australia Bank had already completed its takeover of Midland's Scottish operations. The succession of signatures across this twelve-year run maps that corporate turbulence almost perfectly — four different Chief Executives across four dated issues, including Fred Goodwin before his later notoriety at Royal Bank of Scotland.

Thomas De La Rue's production for Scottish commercial banks during this period relied heavily on watermark security at a time when Scottish issuers were slower than the Bank of England to adopt metallic thread and holographic foil.