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50 Pounds
| Issuer | Central Bank of Ireland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943-1960 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The left half of the obverse is dominated by an intaglio-printed oval vignette of Lady Hazel Lavery, shown three-quarter length, draped in a dark shawl and resting her arm on an Irish harp against a landscape background. To the right, the denomination £50 appears in large numerals within an elaborate guilloche cartouche, above two facsimile signatures over the titles of the Governor and the Secretary of the Department of Finance. The note is printed in dark blue and olive-green on a pale guilloche underprint, with Celtic knotwork ornamentation framing all four borders. |
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| Obverse lettering | The Central Bank of Ireland Banc Ceannais na hÉireann Legal Tender Note Nóta Dlí-Thairgthe Fifty Pounds Sterling Payable to Bearer on Demand in London Tá Caoga Punt Sterling Iníoctha as an Nóta so le n-a Shealbhóir ar n-a Éilamh san do i Lundain |
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| Comments |
The Irish pound was pegged at parity with sterling throughout this note's entire period of issue, a policy the Central Bank maintained with almost no public debate — parity was treated less as a decision than as a fact of nature. The 50 Pound denomination was never a note ordinary commerce touched; at the upper end of the wartime and post-war Irish currency ladder, most examples passed between banks and large commercial accounts.
Three distinct signature combinations across seventeen years make date-specific attribution straightforward. The Brennan/McElligott pairing is known in Specimen form only from the 1943 date, which suggests the denomination was not actively issued until the mid-1950s McElligott/Redmond run.