Catalog
50 Pounds White
| Issuer | Bank of England |
|---|---|
| Year | 1725-1739 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Uniface letterpress note on aged laid paper, with a small Britannia vignette in the upper left corner. The printed text comprises a promise-to-pay inscription, date, and issuing authority, with manuscript additions completing the payee name and cashier's signature in period handwriting. The denomination £50= appears in larger letterpress type at the lower left, accompanied by an entry notation. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | I Promise to pay to _ or bearer on Demand the sum of Fifty Pounds London the 30 day of June 1732 For the Gov:r and Comp.a of the Bank of England. £50= Ent.d |
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| Comments |
Bank of England "white notes" of this period were handwritten documents as much as printed ones — the denomination, date, cashier's signature, and payee name were all completed by hand on a partially engraved form. These early high-denomination notes functioned closer to bearer receipts than to modern currency, payable on demand at the Bank's Threadneedle Street premises to whoever presented them.
The £50 face value placed this squarely in wholesale merchant and government finance territory. Ordinary trade ran on coin; notes of this size moved between goldsmiths, army contractors, and the Exchequer. Forgery of the series became a serious enough problem by the 1740s that the Bank began pressing for the death penalty as a deterrent — legislation that eventually passed and remained in force for decades.
Surviving examples from 1725–1739 are exceptionally rare in any condition, as most were cancelled upon redemption by having their corners cut or a hole punched through the text.