£20 'Elgar', Lowther first prefix AA01 (B386) UNC

The current Governor of the Bank of England is Andrew Bailey. He also served as Chief Cashier at the Bank between 2007 and 2011, which meant his signature appeared on banknotes. He succeeded Mark Carney whose signature also appeared on banknotes – in Canada rather than the UK! We offer Crisp Uncirculated examples of the £10 note issued during Bailey’s tenure. (B400) A mature portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is on the front and the portrait of Charles Darwin is featured on the back alongside a vignette of a hummingbird. Crisp Uncirculated and of course long-vanished form circulation.

During the Second World War the Bank of England was concerned that the currency could be counterfeited. To thwart counterfeiters it was decided to change the colour of the £1 note from the traditional green to blue pink Perhaps the most significant change was the introduction of an embedded security thread in the body of the note. We regard this feature as standard today but then it was considered revolutionary. The bank ditched the new colours once the war was over reverting to the traditional green. The new security feature was retained. This is a classic note which any Bank of England collection should include. It is important because it was the first note to contain an embedded metal security thread. Available in AU/Unc. Image of note is a representative item from stock and will not necessarily be the actual item supplied.

It was in 1960 when L K O’Brien was Chief Cashier that the Bank of England decided to issue notes with the portrait of the reigning monarch Elizabeth II. This was quite a departure because until that point the only illustration on Bank of England notes was of Britannia. Britannia was still featured but this time in a seal which appeared on the back of the notes. The portrait of the young Queen Elizabeth II appeared on the front There were two regular varieties of the O’Brien Portrait £1 note with the catalogue references of B281 and B282. Here we offer the first £1 note with the B282 prefix –A in Uncircualted condition