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5 Pounds Sterling
| Issuer | Clydesdale Banking Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black intaglio with salmon-red overprint elements on a cream paper stock. At the top centre, a vignette of a tree enclosed within an oval medallion is flanked by two oval denomination cartouches reading FIVE POUNDS in red; elaborate scrollwork and guilloche ornamental borders frame the composition. The central text panel carries the issuing bank's name in ornate lettering, the promise to pay clause, and the denomination FIVE POUNDS in bold red letterpress, with a numeral 5 underprint at the lower centre and a manuscript date of 13th September 1865 at lower right, above the Manager's signature line. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Clydesdale Banking Company Promise to Pay the Bearer on Demand FIVE POUNDS At their Office here By order of the Directors Glasgow 13th September 1865 Manager Issued pursuant to Act of Parliament 16 & 17 Victoria Cap 83 SPECIMEN NOTE |
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| Comments |
The Clydesdale Banking Company, founded in Glasgow in 1838, was one of several Scottish banks that retained note-issuing rights well into the twentieth century — a privilege rooted in Scottish banking law that Parliament repeatedly declined to extinguish. By 1865, the bank was still a fully independent institution, nearly two decades before its absorption into Midland Bank's orbit.
Scottish five-pound notes of this period circulated as genuine working instruments in commerce, not as prestige items. The cotton substrate was standard for durability in Scottish conditions, but mid-Victorian provincial bank notes at this denomination saw heavy mercantile use and survival rates are correspondingly poor.
Pick 177 covers a span of issues; precise date verification against the manuscript or printed date on individual examples is essential before cataloging.