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5 Pounds National Bank of Scotland
| Issuer | National Bank of Scotland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1909-1932 |
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| Currency | Pound sterling (1707-1970) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The National Bank of Scotland Limited Incorporated by Royal Charter and Act of Parliament Promise to pay the bearer on demand Five Pounds sterling at the Office here Edinburgh By order of the Board of Directors |
| Reverse description | The central motif is an oval intaglio vignette of a panoramic cityscape of Edinburgh, with the castle and spires visible on the skyline, set within an elaborate guilloche surround. Large numeral '5' counters appear at left and right of the vignette. The entire reverse is covered by an intricate geometric guilloche underprint in blue and green, with the word 'FIVE' lettered at the top centre and the printer's imprint of Waterlow & Sons Limited at the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The National Bank of Scotland was absorbed into the Bank of Scotland in 1959, but its note-issuing history stretches back to 1825. This series, printed by Waterlow & Sons in London, spans a period during which Scottish commercial banks still exercised private note-issuing rights — a privilege that survived the 1844 Bank Charter Act largely intact north of the border, unlike in England where it was steadily extinguished.
Waterlow's relationship with Scottish issuers was commercially pragmatic rather than geographically natural — London-printed notes circulating in Scotland was the norm, not the exception, for smaller banks lacking their own printing arrangements.
The 1909–1932 date range is wide enough to encompass both pre- and post-WWI issues, and serial numbering differences between early and late examples can be significant for dating individual specimens.