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5 Pounds Provincial Bank of Ireland
| Issuer | Provincial Bank of Ireland Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1929-1933 |
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| Currency | Pound sterling (1929-date) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black and grey on white paper, with the bank's name in an ornate guilloche border across the top. A central vignette presents a classical view of the Provincial Bank of Ireland's Belfast branch building, flanked by two oval medallions each bearing the word FIVE. The large denomination numeral £5 appears as a bold underprint in blue at centre, with the promise-to-pay text, place of payment, and a manuscript signature of the cashier below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in green, dominated by an elaborate guilloche surround of interlocking rosettes and floral scrollwork. At centre, an oval intaglio vignette depicts two classical female figures — Britannia and Hibernia — seated together, with the denomination £5 appearing in large numerals to either side. The inscription ESTABLISHED A.D. 1825 is set beneath the central vignette. |
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| Comments |
The Provincial Bank of Ireland was incorporated by royal charter in 1825 specifically to compete with the Bank of Ireland's near-monopoly outside Dublin. By the late 1920s it was operating as a well-established commercial issuer under the Irish Free State, which had chosen to retain the private note-issuing rights of the existing chartered banks rather than centralize currency immediately — a political compromise that kept notes like this in circulation well into the 1930s.
The four-year window between the Robertson and Forde signatures coincides with the bank's absorption of several smaller provincial branches during a period of rural consolidation following agricultural deflation. High-denomination notes from this issuer in this period survive far less often than the lower values, simply because £5 was too large a sum for everyday hoarding.