Bank of England Ten Shillings - Coin Community Forum Bank of England Ten Shillings To participate in the forum you must log in or register . Author Posted 04/17/2009 4:43 pm My grandmother has a Ten Shillings Bank of England note. It is redish in color and the Chief Cashier is L.K. O'Brien. Just wondering when these were produced, and if they have any value. Thanks Date first issued: 12 October 1961 Date last issued: 13 October 1969 Date ceased to be legal tender: 22 November 1970 Colour: Red-brown. Size: 5 ï¿½" x 2 5/8" (140mm x 67mm) Design: Robert Austin. First and only issued Bank of England 10 Shilling note to carry portrait of monarch. Take a look at link and tell us if it is.

CCF member Member Since: 07/27/2008 Posted 04/17/2009 7:31 pm Is it still possible to exchange old pence (as well as LSD coins + notes) at the BoE? Posted 04/18/2009 12:08 am British decimalization was unique in that the primary monetary unit, the pound, remained unchanged - only the fractional units were replaced. The "predecimal pound" and the "decimal pound" are one and the same thing, so pound-denominated notes from the decimal period are still legal tender for face value (except for 1 pound notes - these are no longer legal tender, but are still redeemed for full face value by the BoE). The 10 shilling note was withdrawn when the shilling became obsolete, but the BoE has never backed down from it's stated promise to "pay the bearer", and would still be redeemeable at the BoE for face value - half a pound, or 50 pence in decimal equivalents. As for predecimal coins, they were issued by the government, not the Bank of England.

They've been demonetized, but I believe banks will still take them at face value. The government is no doubt happy to accept them at face value, because they all contain more than that in scrap metal value - redeemed predecimal coins would be melted down and recycled for profit. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Legal tender | Currency Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia ( view authors) . Legal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. [1] Paper currency is a common form of legal tender in many countries. The origin of the word is from Middle English tendren, French tendre (verb form), meaning to offer. The Latin root is tendere (to stretch out), and the sense of tender as an offer is related to the etymology of the English word extend (to hold outward). [2] The noun form of a tender as an offering is a back-formation of the noun from the verb. Legal tender is variously defined in different jurisdictions .

Formally, it is anything which when offered in payment extinguishes the debt. Thus, personal cheques , credit cards , debit cards and similar non-cash methods of payment are not usually legal tender. The law does not relieve the obligation until payment is accepted. Coins and notes are usually defined as legal tender. Some jurisdictions may forbid or restrict payment made other than by legal tender. For example, such a law might outlaw the use of foreign coins and bank notes, or require a license to perform financial transactions in a foreign currency. In some jurisdictions legal tender can be refused as payment if no debt exists prior to the time of payment (where the obligation to pay may arise at the same time as the offer of payment). For example vending machines and transport staff do not have to accept the largest denomination of banknote. Shopkeepers can reject large banknotes — this is covered by the legal concept known as invitation to treat . However, restaurants that do not collect payment until after a meal is served would have to accept that legal tender for the debt incurred in purchasing the meal.

The right, in many jurisdictions, of a trader to refuse to do business with any person means a purchaser cannot demand to make a purchase, and so declaring a legal tender in law, as anything other than an offered payment for debts already incurred, would not be effective. Contents Edit See also Monetization , Remonetization Coins and banknotes may cease to be legal tender if new notes of the same currency substitute them or if a new currency is introduced replacing the former one. Examples of this are: The United Kingdom, adopting decimal currency in place of pounds, shillings, and pence in 1971. Banknotes remained unchanged (except for the replacement of the 10 shilling note by the 50 pence coin). In 1968 and 1969 decimal coins which had precise equivalent values in the old currency (5p, 10p, 50p) were introduced, while decimal coins with no precise equivalent (½p, 1p, 2p) were introduced on 15 February 1971.

The smallest and largest non-decimal circulating coins, the half penny and half crown, were withdrawn in 1969, and the other non-decimal coins with no precise equivalent in the new currency (1d, 3d) were withdrawn later in 1971. Non-decimal coins with precise decimal equivalents (6d ( = 2½p), 1 and 2 shillings) remained legal tender either until the coins no longer circulated (1980 in the case of the 6d), or the equivalent decimal coins were reduced in size in the early 1990s. The 6d coin was permitted to remain in large circulation throughout the United Kingdom due to the London Underground committee's large investment in coin-operated ticketing machines that used it. Old coins returned to the Royal Mint through the UK banking system will be redeemed for legal tender without time limits, but coins issued before 1947 have a higher value for their silver content than for their monetary value. The successor states of the Soviet Union replacing the Soviet ruble in the 1990s.

Currencies used in the Eurozone before being replaced by the euro are not legal tender, but all banknotes are redeemable for euros for a minimum of 10 years (for certain notes there is no time limit). Individual coins or banknotes can be demonetized and cease to be legal tender (for example, the pre-decimal United Kingdom farthing or the Bank of England 1 pound note), but the Bank of England does redeem all Bank of England banknotes for legal tender at its counters in London (or by post) regardless of how old they are. Banknotes issued by retail banks in the UK are not legal tender, but one of the criteria for legal protection under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act is that banknotes must be payable on demand, therefore withdrawn notes remain a liability of the issuing bank without any time limits. In the case of the euro, coins and banknotes of former national currencies were considered as legal tender from 1 January 1999 until 28 February 2002 (in some cases). Legally, those coins and banknotes were considered non-decimal sub-divisions of the euro.

When the Iraqi Swiss dinar ceased to be legal tender in Iraq, it still circulated in the northern Kurdish regions, and despite lacking government backing, it had a stable market value for more than a decade. This example is often cited to demonstrate that the value of a currency is not derived purely from its legal status. This is also true of the paper money issued by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War . Although Confederate currency became worthless by its own terms after the war, since it could only be redeemed a stated number of years after a peace treaty was signed between the Confederacy and the United States (which never happened as the Confederacy was defeated and dissolved), the value of Confederate currency today as a historical and collectible item is usually much greater than its face value. Demonetization is currently prohibited in the United States; the Coinage Act of 1965 (quoted in the previous section) applies to all U.S. coins and currency regardless of age.

The closest historical equivalent in the U.S., other than Confederate money, was from 1933 to 1974, when the government banned most private ownership of gold bullion, including gold coins held for non- numismatic purposes; at present, however, even surviving pre-1933 gold coins are legal tender under the 1964 act. Withdrawal from circulation Edit Banknotes and coins may be withdrawn from circulation, but remain legal tender. United States banknotes issued at any date remain legal tender even after they are withdrawn from circulation. Canadian 1- and 2-dollar bills remain legal tender even though they have been withdrawn and replaced by coins, while Canadian $1000 bills remain legal tender although they are removed from circulation as they arrive at a bank. However, Bank of England notes that are withdrawn from circulation generally cease to be legal tender although they remain redeemable for current currency at the Bank of England itself or by post.

All paper and polymer issues of New Zealand banknotes issued from 1967 onwards (and 1- and 2-dollar notes until 1993) are still legal tender; 1- and 2-cent coins are no longer used in Australia and New Zealand . Commemorative issues Edit Sometimes currency issues such as commemorative coins or transfer bills may be issued that are not intended for public circulation but are nonetheless legal tender. An example of such currency is Maundy money . Some currency issuers, particularly the Scottish banks, issue special commemorative banknotes which are intended for ordinary circulation. As well, some standard coins are minted on higher-quality dies as 'uncirculated' versions of the coin, for collectors to purchase at a premium; these coins are nevertheless legal tender. Some countries issue precious-metal coins which have a currency value indicated on them which is far below the value of the metal the coin contains — these coins are known as "non-circulating legal tender" or "NCLT". Legal tender status by country Edit In Australia , the creation of legal tender, in the form of notes and base metal coins, is the exclusive right of the Commonwealth Government.

According to the Australian Constitution , s 115 [3] which states: "A State shall not coin money, nor make anything but gold and silver coin a legal tender in payment of debts." Under this provision the Perth Mint , owned by the Western Australian Government, still produces gold and silver coins with legal tender status, the Australian Gold Nugget and Australian Silver Kookaburra . These, however, although having the status of legal tender, are almost never circulated or used in payment of debts, and are mostly considered bullion coins . Australian notes are legal tender, as established by the Reserve Bank Act 1959 [4] for all amounts.

Australian coins for general circulation, now produced at the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra , are also legal tender, under the provisions of the Currency Act 1965, [5] but only for the following amounts: not exceeding 20¢ if 1¢ and/or 2¢ coins are offered; not exceeding $5 if any of 5¢, 10¢, 20¢ and 50¢ coins are offered; not exceeding 10 times the face value if coins in the range 50¢ to $10 inclusive are offered; to any value if face value is greater than $10 are offered. The one cent and two cent coins have been withdrawn from circulation since February 1992, but they remain legal tender. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, [6] the legal framework [7] for legal tender in Australia is somewhat unclear. The Reserve Bank Act 1959 [4] and Currency Act 1965 [5] establish that it is not legally required to accept legal tender, even for an existing debt, although failure to do so may be prejudicial in future legal proceedings.

In Australia, except for when sending items via Registered Post, Australia Post prohibits the sending of coins or banknotes, for any country, in the post. History Edit In 1901 notes in circulation in Australia consisted of bank notes payable in gold coin and issued by the trading banks, and Queensland Treasury notes. Bank notes circulated in all States except Queensland , but were not legal tender except for a brief period in 1893 in New South Wales . There were, however, some restrictions on their issue or other provisions for the protection of the public. Queensland Treasury notes were issued by the Queensland Government and were legal tender in that State. Notes of both categories continued in circulation until 1910, when the Australian Notes Act 1910 and Bank Notes Tax Act 1910 were passed by the Commonwealth Parliament. The Australian Notes Act 1910 prohibited the circulation of State notes as money and the Bank Notes Tax Act 1910 imposed a tax of ten per cent per annum on 'all bank notes issued or re-issued by any bank in the Commonwealth after the commencement of this Act, and not redeemed'.

These Acts put an end to the issue of notes by the trading banks and the Queensland Treasury. The Reserve Bank Act 1959 [4] expressly prohibits persons and states from issuing 'a bill or note for the payment of money payable to bearer on demand and intended for circulation'. Canada Edit Canadian dollar banknotes issued by the Bank of Canada are legal tender in Canada . However, commercial transactions may legally be settled in any manner agreed by the parties involved with the transactions. For example, convenience stores may refuse $100 bank notes if they feel that would put them at risk of being counterfeit victims; however, official policy suggests that the retailers should evaluate the impact of that approach. In the case that no mutually acceptable form of payment can be found for the tender, the parties involved should seek legal advice. [8] As outlined in the Currency Act, there is a limit the value of a transaction for which you can use only coins.

[9] A payment in coins is legal tender for no more than the following amounts for the following denominations of coins: forty dollars if the denomination is two dollars or greater but does not exceed ten dollars; twenty-five dollars if the denomination is one dollar; ten dollars if the denomination is ten cents or greater but less than one dollar; five dollars if the denomination is five cents; and twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent. Eurozone Edit Euro coins and banknotes became legal tender in most countries of the Eurozone on January 1, 2002. Although one side of the coins is used for different national marks for each country, all coins and all banknotes are legal tender throughout the eurozone . Therefore, it is possible to find Irish euro coins in Greece and Finnish euro coins in Portugal , for instance. Although some eurozone countries do not put 1 cent and 2 cent coins into general circulation (prices in those countries are by general understanding always rounded to whole multiples of 5 cent), 1 cent and 2 cent coins from other eurozone countries remain legal tender in those countries. European Regulation EC 974/98 limits the number of coins that can be offered for payment to fifty.

[10] National laws may also impose restrictions as to maximal amounts that can be settled by coins or notes. France Historically, legal tender was enacted the first time in 1870 for all notes and coins of the Banque de France . Anyone refusing such monies for their whole value would be prosecuted ( French Penal Code art. R. 642-3). Republic of Ireland Edit Template:See also According to the Economic and Monetary Union Act, 1998 of the Republic of Ireland which replaced the legal tender provisions that had been re-enacted in Irish legislation from previous British enactments, No person, other than the Central Bank of Ireland and such persons as may be designated by the Minister by order, shall be obliged to accept more than 50 coins denominated in euro or in cent in any single transaction.

Irish history Edit The Decimal Currency Act, 1970 governed legal tender prior to the adoption of the euro and laid down the analogous provisions as in United Kingdom legislation (all inherited from previous British law ), namely: coins denominated above 10 pence became legal tender for payment not exceeding 10 pounds, coins denominated not more than 10 pence became legal tender for payment not exceeding 5 pounds, and bronze coins became legal tender for payment not exceeding 20 pence. India Edit The Indian rupee is the de facto legal tender currency in India . The Indian rupee is also legal tender in Nepal and Bhutan , although the Nepalese rupee and Bhutanese ngultrum are not legal tender in India. The value of both the Nepalese rupee and Bhutanese ngultrum are pegged with the Indian rupee. [11] In previous times, the Indian rupee was regarded as an official currency of other countries, including the Straits Settlements (now Singapore and parts of Malaysia ), Kuwait , Bahrain , Qatar , and the Trucial States (now the UAE ).

In 1837, the Indian rupee was made the sole official currency of the Straits Settlements, as it was administered as a part of India. In 1845, the British replaced the Indian rupee with the Straits dollar after administration of the Straits Settlements separated from India earlier in that same year. After partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 , the Pakistani rupee came into existence, initially using Indian coins and Indian currency notes simply overstamped with the word "Pakistan". New coins and banknotes were issued in 1948. The Gulf rupee , also known as the Persian Gulf rupee, was introduced by the Government of India as a replacement for the Indian rupee for circulation exclusively outside the country with the Reserve Bank of India Amendment Act of 1 May 1959. This creation of a separate currency was an attempt to reduce the strain put on India's foreign reserves by gold smuggling. Two states, Kuwait and Bahrain eventually replaced the Gulf rupee with their own currencies (the Kuwaiti dinar and the Bahraini dinar ) after gaining independence from Britain in 1961 and 1965, respectively.

On 6 June 1966, India devalued the rupee. To avoid following this devaluation, several of the states using the rupee adopted their own currencies. Qatar and most of the Trucial States adopted the Qatar and Dubai riyal , whilst Abu Dhabi adopted the Bahraini dinar . Only Oman continued to use the Gulf rupee until 1970, with the government backing the currency at its old peg to the pound. Oman later replaced the Gulf rupee with its own rial in 1970. New Zealand Edit New Zealand has had a complex history of legal tender. At the creation of the colony after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 there was no legal tender in New Zealand , because although the Treaty authorised the British Crown to govern, the laws of Great Britain had not been formally adopted by the new colony. The British Laws Act 1858 retrospectively adopted the laws of Great Britain, and through the UK's Coinage Act 1816 British coins were confirmed as legal tender in New Zealand . Unusually until 1989 the Reserve Bank did not have the right to issue coins as legal tender.

Coins had to be issued by the Minister of Finance . The history of bank notes was considerably more complex. In 1840 the Union Bank started issuing bank notes under provisions of British law but these were not automatically legal tender. In 1844 Ordinances were passed making the Union Bank banknotes legal tender and authorising the government to issue debentures in small denominations, thus creating two sets of legal tender. These debentures were circulated but were traded at a discount to their face value because of distrust of the colonial government by the settler population. In 1845 the Ordinance was disallowed by the British Colonial office and they were recalled, but not without first causing a panic amongst holders of the debentures. In 1847 the Colonial Bank of Issue became the only issuer of legal tender. In 1856 however the Colonial Bank of Issue was disbanded and through the Paper Currency Act 1856 the Union Bank was confirmed once again as an issuer of legal tender. The Act also authorised the Oriental Bank to issue legal tender but this bank ceased operations in 1861.

Between 1861 and 1874 a number of other banks including the Bank of New Zealand , Bank of New South Wales , National Bank of New Zealand and Colonial Bank of New Zealand were created by Acts of Parliament and authorised to issue bank notes backed by gold, however these notes were not legal tender. The 1893 Bank Note Issue Act allowed the government to declare a bank's right to issue legal tender. This enabled the government to make such a declaration to assist the Bank of New Zealand when in 1895 the bank encountered financial difficulties that could have led to its failure. The 1914 Banking Amendment Act gave legal tender status to bank notes from any issuer and removed the requirement that banks authorised to issue bank notes must redeem them on demand for gold (the gold standard ). In 1933 the Coinage Act created a specific New Zealand coinage and removed legal tender status from British coins. In the same year the Reserve Bank of New Zealand was established. The bank was given a monopoly on the issue of legal tender. The Reserve Bank also provided a mechanism through which the other issuers of legal tender could phase out their bank notes.

These banknotes were convertible into British legal tender on demand at the Reserve Bank and remained so until the 1938 Sterling Exchange Suspension Notice that suspended provisions of a 1936 amendment of the 1933 Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act. The 1964 Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act restated that only notes issued by the Reserve Bank were legal tender. The Act also ended the right of individuals to redeem their bank notes for coin, effectively ending the distinction between coin and notes in New Zealand. The Act came into force in 1967 establishing as legal tender all New Zealand dollar five dollars banknotes and greater, all decimal coins, the pre-decimal sixpence, the shilling , and the florin . Also passed in 1964 was the Decimal Currency Act which created the basis for a decimal currency which was also introduced in 1967. As at 2005 banknotes were legal tender for all payments, $1 and $2 coins were legal tender for payments up to $100, and 5c, 10c, 20c, and 50c silver coins were legal tender for payments up to $5.

These older style silver coins were legal tender until October 2006, after which only the new 10c, 20c and 50c coins, introduced in August 2006, are legal. [12] Norway Edit The Norwegian krone ( NOK ) is legal tender in Norway according to a Central Bank act ( Norwegian : Sentralbankloven) of 1985-05-24, [13] However, no-one is obliged to accept more than 25 coins of each denomination (of which currently 0.50, 1, 5, 10 and 20 NOK denominations are in common circulation). Singapore and Brunei The Singapore dollar is legal tender in Brunei since a Currency Interchangeability Agreement was signed on 1967-06-12. Brunei dollar banknotes (but not coins) are widely accepted throughout Singapore and represent a "customary tender". [14] Switzerland and Liechtenstein Main article: Swiss franc The Swiss franc is the only legal tender in Switzerland .

Any payment consisting of up to 100 Swiss coins is legal tender; banknotes are legal tender for any amount. [15] The sixth series of Swiss bank notes from 1976, recalled by the National Bank in 2000, is no longer legal tender, but can be exchanged in banks for current notes up until April 2020. The Swiss franc is also the legal tender of the Principality of Liechtenstein , which is joined to Switzerland in a customs union . The Swiss franc is also the currency used for administrative and accounting purposes by most of the numerous international organisations that are headquartered in Switzerland. United Kingdom Edit In the UK, legal tender is solely for the guaranteed settlement of debts, and does not affect any party's right of refusal of service in any transaction. [16] In the 19th century, gold coins were legal tender to any amount, silver coins were not legal tender for sums over 2 pounds, nor bronze for sums over 1 shilling .

This provision was retained in revised form at the introduction of decimal currency , and the Coinage Act 1971 laid down that coins denominated above 10 pence became legal tender for payment not exceeding 10 pounds, non-bronze coins denominated not more than 10 pence became legal tender for payment not exceeding 5 pounds, and bronze coins became legal tender for payment not exceeding 20 pence. Throughout the United Kingdom , coins valued 1 pound , 2 pounds , and 5 pounds Sterling are legal tender in unlimited amounts. Twenty pence pieces and fifty pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 10 pounds; five pence pieces and ten pence pieces are legal tender in amounts up to 5 pounds; and pennies and two pence coins are legal tender in amounts up to 20 pence. [17] In accordance with the Coinage Act 1971, [18] gold sovereigns are also legal tender for any amount. Although not specifically mentioned on them, the face values of gold coins are 50p; £1; £2; and £5, a mere fraction of their worth as bullion.

Bank of England notes are legal tender in England and Wales and are issued in the denominations of £5, £10, £20 and £50. English banknotes can always be redeemed at the Bank of England even if discontinued. Scottish and Northern Irish bank notes are not legal tender in any part of the United Kingdom. United States The U.S. Constitution , Art. I Sec. 10 Cl. 1 , states, in part: No State shall ... coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; ... Before the Civil War (1861 to 1865), silver coins were legal tender only up to the sum of $5. Before 1853, when US silver coins were reduced in weight 7%, silver coins had exactly the value in silver (from 1830 to 1852). Two silver 50 cent coins had exactly $1 worth of silver. A Gold US Dollar of 1849 had $1 worth of gold. With the flood of gold coming out of the California mines in the early 1850s, the price of silver rose (gold went down).

Thus, a 50 cent coins of 1840 to 1852 were worth 53 cents if melted down. The government could increase the value of the gold coins (expensive) or reduce the size of all US silver coins. With the reduction of 1853, a 50 cent coin now had only 48 cents of silver. This is the reason for the $5 limit of silver coins as Legal Tender; paying somebody $100 in the new silver coins would be giving them $96 worth of silver. Most people preferred bank check or gold coins for large purchases. During the early American Civil War , the federal government first issued United States Demand Notes (the first greenback notes) which were not redeemable in gold and silver coins but could be used to pay "all dues" to the Federal Government. Since land purchases and duties on imports were only payable in gold or the new Demand Notes, the Demand Notes were bought by importers and land speculators for about 97 cents on the gold dollar and never lost value.

1862 greenbacks (Legal Tender Notes) at first traded for 97 cents on the dollar but gained/lost value depending on fortunes of the Union army. The value of Legal Tender Greenbacks swung wildly but trading was from 85 to 33 cents on the gold dollar. This resulted in a situation in which the greenback "Legal Tender" notes of 1862 were fiat , and so gold and silver were held and paper circulated at a discount. see: Gresham's Law . The 1861 Demand Notes were a huge success but robbed the customs house of much needed gold coin (interest on most bonds back then was paid in gold). A money-strapped Congress which had to pay for the war eventually adopted the Legal Tender Act of 1862 , issuing United States Notes backed only by treasury securities, and compelled the people to accept the new notes at a discount; prices rose except for those who had gold and/or silver coins. Litigation resulted from debts incurred before the Civil War (when gold coins were common) and 5 years later, the debtor wanted to pay the debt in full with "Legal Tender" (only worth 55 cents on the gold dollar).

Bank deposits were often in "current funds (paper money)" or gold coin. Checks were written to be cashed in "gold coin" or "current funds." The United States Supreme Court , with Salmon P. Chase (former Secretary of the Treasury ) ruled the practice of legal tender unconstitutional in Hepburn v. Griswold in 1869, but later reversed its ruling within a month when confusion in the markets caused everybody not to accept "Legal Tender" notes at all. The Court held that paper money, even that not backed by specie such as the United States Notes can be legal tender, in the Legal Tender Cases , ranging from 1871 to 1884. On the other hand, coins made of gold or silver may not necessarily be legal tender, if they are not fiat money in the jurisdiction where they are preferred as payment. The United States Coinage Act of 1965 states (in part): "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes and dues.

Foreign gold or silver coins are not legal tender for debts." ― Template:Usc There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy. [19] See also Banknotes: a short history | Business | The Guardian Bank of England Banknotes: a short history In 1694 the Bank of England was established to raise money for King William III's war against France. The Bank started to issue notes in return for deposits ... Rare Scottish and English banknotes at auction in Edinburgh. First recorded use of paper money was in China in the seventh century. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images This article is 3 years old Seventh century First recorded use of paper money was in China in the seventh century.

The practice did not become widespread in Europe for nearly a thousand years. 16th century The goldsmith-bankers began to accept deposits, make loans and transfer funds. They also gave receipts for cash, that is to say gold coins, deposited with them. These receipts, known as "running cash notes", were made out in the name of the depositor and promised to pay him on demand. Many also carried the words "or bearer" after the name of the depositor, which allowed them to circulate in a limited way. The similar phrase "I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ...." still appears on British banknotes today. 1694 In 1694 the Bank of England was established to raise money for King William III's war against France. The Bank started to issue notes in return for deposits. These notes were initially handwritten on Bank paper and signed by one of its cashiers. Today, all British banks carry the chief cashier's signature. After 1696, it was decided not to issue any notes worth less than £50 and since the average income then was less than £20 a year, most people went through life without ever coming into contact with banknotes.

18th century The move towards fixed denomination notes started in the 18th century and from 1725 the Bank was issuing partly printed notes for completion by hand. The £ sign and the first digit were printed but other numerals and details were added by hand. By 1745 notes were being part printed in denominations ranging from £20 to £1,000. In 1759, gold shortages caused by the seven years war forced the Bank to issue a £10 note for the first time. The first £5 notes followed in 1793 at the start of the war against Revolutionary France. In 1797 the uncertainty of the war caused a series of runs on the Bank and drained its bullion reserve. It was forced to stop paying out gold for its notes and instead it issued £1 and £2 notes. The Bank's nickname "the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street" has its roots in this so-called "restriction period" when gold reserves were short. 1853 Cashiers were finally relieved of the task of signing each note individually in 1853, when the first fully printed notes appeared.

Early 20th century The first world war broke the link between notes and gold once again. The government needed to preservce bullion stocks and so the Bank stopped paying out gold for its notes. In 1914 the Treasury printed and issued 10 shilling and £1 notes. The gold standard was partially restored in 1925. Britain left the gold standard in 1931 and the note issue became entirely backed by securities instead of gold. Late 20th century Since 1970, the Bank's notes have honoured "great Britons", including scientist Isaac Newton, composer Edward Elgar and nurse Florence Nightingale. Final say on these historical figures went to the Bank governor. The world's first polymer notes began to appear in the 1980s although there were some teething problems with ink sticking to the surface. Australia issued a polymer $10 commemorative banknote in 1988 to mark its bicentenary and went on to become the first country to use solely polymer notes.

21st century From 30 April some £50 notes will no longer be legal tender Published: 28 Apr 2014 Design features 3D security ribbon and colour-changing ink which will make the banknotes more difficult to forge Published: 8 Oct 2013 Ten-year contract set to be signed soon with polymer-based £5 note out in 2016 and Jane Austen £10 note in 2017 Published: 8 Sep 2014 New ‘plastic fivers’ featuring Sir Winston Churchill will be available from UK’s cash machines after six-year development Published: 13 Sep 2016 Bank of England - Example Problems Bank of England Jump to: navigation , search The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom , sometimes known as "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street " or "The Old Lady". 8 External links Functions of the Bank It performs all the recognized functions of a central bank -- to maintain price stability, and subject to that, to support the economic policy of Her Majesty's Government ( Bank of England Act 1998 ) in order to promote economic growth.

It has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales (see Sterling ); it is both the Government's banker and the bankers' bank; a "Lender of Last Resort"; it manages the country's foreign exchange and gold reserves ; it used to be responsible for the regulation and supervision of the banking industry (see Johnson Matthey , BCCI , and Barings ), although this responsibility was transferred to the Financial Services Authority in June 1998 . Since 1997 the Monetary Policy Committee has had the responsibility for setting the official interest rate . With the decision to grant the Bank operational independence, responsibility for government debt management was transferred to the new UK Debt Management Office in 1998 , which also took over government cash management in 2000 . The Bank maintains the Government's Consolidated Fund account. Computershare took over as the registrar for UK Government bonds (known as gilts ) from the Bank at the end of 2004 .

Scottish and Northern Irish banks retain the right to issue their own banknotes, but they must be backed one to one with deposits in the Bank of England, excepting a few million pounds representing the value of notes they had in circulation in 1845 . The current Governor of the Bank of England is Mervyn Allister King , who took over on June 30 2003 from Sir Edward George . History The Bank was founded by the Scotsman William Paterson , in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker. He proposed a loan of £1.2m to the Government; in return the subscribers would be incorporated as The Governor and Company of the Bank of England with banking privileges including the issue of notes. The Royal Charter was granted on July 27 , 1694. Public finances were in so dire a condition at the time that the terms of the loan were that it was to be serviced at a rate of 8% per annum, and there was also a service charge of £4000 per annum for the management of the loan. The first governor was Sir John Houblon , who is depicted in the £50 note issued in 1990 .

The charter was renewed in 1742 , 1764 , and 1781 . The Bank was originally constructed above the ancient Temple of Mithras at Walbrook, dating to the founding of Londinium in antiquity by Roman garissons. Mithras was interestingly, among other things, considered the god of contracts, a fitting association for the Bank. In 1734 the Bank moved to its current location on Threadneedle Street, slowly acquiring the land to create the edifice seen today. When the idea and reality of the National Debt came about during the 18th century this was also managed by the bank. By the charter renewal in 1781 it was also the bankers' bank—keeping enough gold to pay its notes on demand until February 26 , 1797 when war had so diminished gold reserves that the Government prohibited the Bank from paying out in gold. This lasted until 1821 . The 1844 Bank Charter Act tied the issue of notes to the gold reserves and gave the bank sole rights with regard to the issue of banknotes.

Private banks which had previously had that right retained it, provided that their headquarters were outside London and that they deposited security against the notes that they issued. A few English banks continued to issue their own notes until the last of them was taken over in the 1930s . The Scottish and Northern Irish private banks still have that right. Britain remained on the gold standard until 1931 when the gold and foreign exchange reserves were transferred to the Treasury . But their management was still handled by the Bank. In 1870 the Bank was given responsibility for interest rate policy. During the governorship of Montagu Norman , which lasted from 1920 to 1944 , the Bank made deliberate efforts to move away from commercial banking and become a central bank. In 1946 , shortly after the end of Norman's tenure, the Bank was nationalised. The nearest London Underground station, and thus a busy commuter stop, is Bank station . In 1997 the bank's Monetary Policy Committee was given sole responsibility for setting interest rates to meet the Government's stated inflation target of 2.5%.

This decision was taken by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown in consultation with Tony Blair prior to the 1997 general election though the announcement was made shortly after the election. Should inflation overshoot or undershoot the target in excess of 1%, the Governor will have to write a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining why and how he will remedy the situation. This was an astute move for several reasons; it removed the politically controversial responsibility from the government it was very popular with the City of London , showing a sign of the new governments desire for a strong economy Following the announcement the FTSE 100 Index leapt rapidly and, the Pound reached its highest level against the Deutschmark since Sterling's exit from the ERM The target has now changed to 2% since the replacement of RPI (Retail Price Index) with CPI (Consumer Price Index) as the Treasury's inflation index. A Conservative MP Nicholas Budgen had proposed this as a Private Member's Bill in 1996, but the bill failed as it had neither the support of the government nor the opposition. Banknote issues The Bank of England has issued banknotes since 1694.

Notes were originally hand-written, although they were partially printed from 1725 onwards cashiers still had to sign each note and make them payable to someone. Notes were fully printed from 1855 , no doubt to the relief of the bank's workers. Until 1928 all notes were "White Notes", printed in black and with a blank reverse. During the 20th century White Notes were issued in denominations between £5 and £1000, but in the 18th and 19th centuries there were White Notes for £1 and £2. In the twentieth century, the Bank issued notes for ten shillings and one pound for the first time on 22 November 1928 when the Bank took over responsibility for these denominations from the Treasury which had issued notes of these denominations three days after the declaration of war in 1914 in order to remove gold coins from circulation.

During the Second World War the German Operation Bernhard attempted to counterfeit various denominations between £5 and £50 in an attempt to destabilise the British economy, producing 500,000 notes each month in 1943 -- although most fell into Allied hands at the end of the war, forgeries were frequently appearing for years afterward, so all denominations of banknote above £5 were subsequently removed from circulation. All old Bank of England notes remain exchangeable for current notes forever. Notes can either be taken in person to the Bank in London during normal business hours, or sent by post at the sender's risk to: Exchanges, London EC2R 8AH 10/- The Bank of England's first ever ten shilling note was issued on 22 November 1928 . This note featured a vignette of Britannia , a feature of the Bank's notes since 1694. The predominant colour was red-brown. Unlike previous notes it, and the contemporaneous £1 note, were not dated but are instead identified by the signature of the Chief Cashier of the time.

In 1940 a metal security thread was introduced for the first time, and the colour of the note was changed to mauve for the duration of the war. The original design of the note was replaced by the "Series C" design in 1960, when Queen Elizabeth agreed to allow the use of her portrait on the notes. The ten shilling note was withdrawn following the introduction in 1969 of the fifty pence coin. £1 The Bank of England's first one pound note since 1845 was issued on 22 November 1928 . This note featured a vignette of Britannia , a feature of the Bank's notes since 1694. The predominant colour was green. Unlike previous notes it, and the contemporaneous ten shilling note, were not dated but are instead identified by the signature of the Chief Cashier of the time. In 1940 a metal security thread was introduced for the first time, and the colour of the note was changed to pink for the duration of the war.

The original design of the note was replaced by the "Series C" design in 1960, when Queen Elizabeth agreed to allow the use of her portrait on the notes. In 1977 the "Series D" design (known as the "Pictorial Series") featuring Sir Isaac Newton on the reverse was issued, but following the introduction in 1983 of the One Pound coin, the note was withdrawn from circulation in 1988. £5 The first Bank of England £5 note was issued in 1793 in response to the need for smaller denomination banknotes to replace gold coin during the French Revolutionary Wars (previously the smallest note issued had been £10). The 1793 design, latterly known as the "White Fiver" (black printing on white paper), remained in circulation essentially unchanged until 1957 when the multicoloured (although predominantly dark blue) "Series B" note, depicting the helmeted Britannia was introduced.

This note was replaced in turn in 1963 by the "Series C" £5 note which for the first time introduced the portrait of the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, to the £5 note (the Queen's portrait having first appeared on the Series C ten shilling and one pound notes issued in 1960). In 1971 the "Series D" pictorial £5 note was issued, showing a slightly older portrait of the Queen and a battle scene featuring the Duke of Wellington on the reverse. On 7 June 1990 the "Series E" £5 note, by now the smallest denomination issued by the Bank, was issued. The Series E note (known as the "Historical Series") changed the colour of the denomination to a turquoise blue, and incorporated design elements to make photocopying and computer reproduction of the notes more difficult. Initially the reverse of the Series E £5 note featured the railway engineer George Stephenson , but on 21 May 2002 a new Series E note was produced featuring the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry . The original issue of the Fry banknote was withdrawn after it was found the ink on the serial number could be rubbed off the surface of the note.

The Stephenson £5 note was withdrawn as legal tender from 21 October 2003 , at which time it formed around 54 million of the 211 million £5 notes in circulation. £10 File:Bank Of England10.gif A £10 Bank of England note. The first ten pound note was issued in 1759, when the Seven Years War caused severe gold shortages. Following the withdrawal of the denomination after the Second World War, it was not reintroduced until the Series C design of the mid 1960s produced the brown ten pound note. The Series D pictorial note appeared in the early 1970s, featuring nurse Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) on the reverse, plus a scene showing her work at the army hospital in Scutari during the Crimean War . This note was subsequently replaced in the early 1990s by the Series E note, where the predominant colour was changed from brown to orange.

The reverse of the first Series E £10 featured Charles Dickens and a scene from the Pickwick Papers (this note was withdrawn from circulation in July 2003), while a second Series E note was issued in 2000 featuring Charles Darwin , the HMS Beagle , a hummingbird, and flowers under a magnifying glass, illustrating the Origin of Species. £20 File:Bank Of England20.gif A £20 Bank of England note. After the Second World War, the £20 denomination did not reappear until Series D in the early 1970s. The predominant colour of this denomination is purple. The reverse of the Series D £20 features a statue of William Shakespeare and the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. In 1992 this note was replaced by the first Series E note, featuring the physicist Michael Faraday and the Royal Institution lectures. By 1999 this note had been extensively copied, and therefore it became the first denomination to be replaced by a second Series E design, featuring a bolder denomination figure at the top left of the obverse side, and a reverse side featuring the composer Sir Edward Elgar and Worcester Cathedral.

£50 The fifty pound denomination, much beloved of second hand car and antique dealers, did not reappear until 1981 when a Series D design was issued featuring the architect Christopher Wren and the plan of Saint Pauls' Cathedral on the reverse of this large note. In 1990 this denomination saw the start of the Series E issue, when the Bank commemorated its own impending tercentenary by putting its first governor, Sir John Houblon on the reverse. The series E £50 saw the first use on Bank of England notes of a hologram on the note, a practice which has been extended to all the Bank's notes with the second issue of Series E notes. £1,000,000 Bank notes issued by the banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland are required to be backed pound for pound by Bank of England notes. Due to the large number of notes issued by these banks it would be cumbersome and wasteful to hold Bank of England notes in the standard denominations. Special one million pound notes are used for this purpose. These are used only internally within the Bank and are never seen in circulation.

[1] Chief Cashiers of the Bank of England John Kendrick 1694 Bank of England note issues : Wikis (The Full Wiki) 6 External links History The Bank of England has issued banknotes since 1694. The Bank of England has not always had a monopoly of note issue in England and Wales. Until the middle of the Nineteenth Century, private banks in Great Britain and Ireland were free to issue their own banknotes. Advertisements Provincial banknote issues Attempts to restrict banknote issue by other banks began in 1708 and 1709, when Acts of Parliament were passed which prohibited companies of more than six people to set up banks and issue notes. Many provincial banks, however, were small enough to escape this prohibition, and money issued by provincial English [1] [2] [3] and Welsh [4] banking companies continued to circulate freely as a means of payment. Gold shortages Gold shortages in the 18th Century caused by the Seven Years' War and war with Revolutionary France began to affect the supply of gold bullion reserves, giving rise to the "Restriction Period".

The result was that the Bank was often unable to pay out gold for its notes, and the bank started to issue lower denominations of £1 and £2 notes. [5] Other private note-issuing banks were affected by the gold shortage, with many going out of business, rendering their banknotes worthless. Confidence in the value of banknotes was adversely affected. Restriction of banknote issues The Country Bankers’ Act 1826 relaxed some of the laws of 1709, allowing joint-stock banks with more than six partners to issue notes, as long as they were over 65 miles from London. This Act also allowed the Bank of England to open branches in major provincial cities, enabling better distribution for its notes. [5] Introduction of legal tender With the passing of the Bank Notes Act 1833, Bank of England notes over £5 in value were first given the status of "legal tender" in England and Wales, effectively guaranteeing the worth of the Bank's notes and ensuring public confidence in the notes in times of crisis or war.

[5] The Currency and Bank Notes Act 1954 extended the definition of legal tender to ten-shilling and £1 notes; unlike the 1833 act, this law also applied to Scotland, meaning that English notes under £5 were classed as legal tender. The Bank of England ten-shilling note was withdrawn in 1969 and the £1 was removed from circulation in 1988, today leaving a legal curiosity in Scots law whereby there is no paper legal tender in Scotland [6] (Scottish notes were not included in the 1833 or 1954 acts). Note-issuing monopoly The Bank Charter Act 1844 began the process which gave the Bank of England exclusive note-issuing powers. Under the Act, no new banks could start issuing notes, and note-issuing banks were barred from expanding their note issue. Gradually, these banks vanished through mergers and closures, and their note-issuing powers went with them. The last privately issued banknotes in Wales were withdrawn in 1908, on the closure of the last Welsh bank, the North and South Wales Bank.

[7] The last private English banknotes were issued in 1921 by Fox, Fowler and Company , a Somerset bank. [5] Today, the Bank of England has a monopoly on banknote issue in England and Wales. Note printing Notes were originally hand-written; although they were partially printed from 1725 onwards, cashiers still had to sign each note and make them payable to someone. Notes were fully printed from 1855, no doubt to the relief of the bank's workers. Until 1928 all notes were "White Notes", printed in black and with a blank reverse. During the 20th century White Notes were issued in denominations between £5 and £1000, but in the 18th and 19th centuries there were White Notes for £1 and £2.

The 20th century In the twentieth century, the Bank issued notes for ten shillings and one pound for the first time on 22 November 1928 when the Bank took over responsibility for these denominations from the Treasury which had issued notes of these denominations three days after the declaration of war in 1914 in order to remove gold coins from circulation. In 1921 the Bank of England gained a legal monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales, a process that started with the Bank Charter Act of 1844 when the ability of other banks to issues notes was restricted. The first coloured banknotes were issued in 1928, and were also the first notes to be printed on both sides. At the start of World War I , the UK government issued £1 and 10-shilling Treasury notes to supplant the sovereign and half-sovereign gold coins. World War II saw a reversal in the trend of warfare creating more notes when, in order to combat forgery , higher denomination notes (at the time as high as £1,000) were removed from circulation.

As of 13 March 2007 the Bank of England banknotes in circulation, known as Series E, did not exceed £50. The notes were as follows: 5 pound note depicting Elizabeth Fry , showing a scene with her reading to prisoners in Newgate Prison . 2011 not yet issued On 13 March 2007, the first note from the new Series F entered circulation. This is the new 20 pound note depicting Adam Smith , with an illustration of 'The division of labour in pin manufacturing', which will replace the Series E Elgar note. As of 2005, they are signed by the Chief Cashier, Andrew Bailey . All the notes issued since Series C in 1960 also depict Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in full view facing left and as a watermark , hidden, facing right; recent issues have the EURion constellation around. The custom of depicting historical figures on the reverse began with Series D in 1970.

Previous banknotes have depicted Sir Isaac Newton (£1), the Duke of Wellington (£5), Florence Nightingale (£10), William Shakespeare (£20), Sir Christopher Wren (£50), George Stephenson (£5), Charles Dickens (£10) and Michael Faraday (£20). On 29 October 2006 the Governor of the Bank of England announced that, to herald the launch of the new Series F banknotes from Spring 2007, a new £20 was to be issued featuring the Scottish economist, Adam Smith . The note, which also includes enhanced security features entered circulation on 13 March 2007. [8] The Bank of England Series D one pound note was discontinued in 1984, having been replaced by a pound coin the year before, and was officially withdrawn from circulation in 1988. All banknotes, regardless of when they were withdrawn from circulation may be presented at the Bank of England where they will be exchanged for current banknotes and coin. In most cases this is done on the spot; however, the issues counterfeited by the Germans must be authenticated.

In practice, commercial banks will accept most banknotes from their customers and negotiate them with the Bank of England themselves. Higher-value notes are used within the banking system – particularly the £1 million and £100 million notes used to maintain parity with Scottish and Northern Irish notes. These resemble simple IOUs and bear no aesthetic design features, [9] and are never seen by the public. Denominations 10/- The Bank of England's first ever ten shilling note was issued on 22 November 1928. This note featured a vignette of Britannia , a feature of the Bank's notes since 1694. The predominant colour was red-brown. Unlike previous notes it, and the contemporaneous £1 note, were not dated but are instead identified by the signature of the Chief Cashier of the time. In 1940 a metal security thread was introduced for the first time, and the colour of the note was changed to mauve for the duration of the war. The original design of the note was replaced by the "Series C" design in 1961, when Queen Elizabeth II agreed to allow the use of her portrait on the notes.

The ten shilling note was withdrawn following the introduction on 14 October 1969 of the fifty pence coin. £1 The first Bank of England £1 note was issued on 26 February 1797 under the direction of Thomas Raikes , Governor of the Bank of England and according to the orders of the government of William Pitt The Younger , in response to the need for smaller denomination banknotes to replace gold coin during the French Revolutionary Wars The Bank of England's first one pound note since 1845 was issued on 22 November 1928. This note featured a vignette of Britannia , a feature of the Bank's notes since 1694. The predominant colour was green. Unlike previous notes it, and the contemporaneous ten shilling note, were not dated but are instead identified by the signature of the Chief Cashier of the time. In 1940 a metal security thread was introduced for the first time, and the colour of the note was changed to pink for the duration of the war.

The original design of the note was replaced by the "Series C" design in 1960, when Queen Elizabeth II agreed to allow the use of her portrait on the notes. In 1978 the "Series D" design (known as the "Pictorial Series") featuring Sir Isaac Newton on the reverse was issued, but following the introduction in 1983 of the One Pound coin, the note was withdrawn from circulation in summer 1988. £2 The first Bank of England £2 note was issued on 26 February 1797 under the direction of Thomas Raikes , Governor of the Bank of England and according to the orders of the government of William Pitt The Younger , in response to the need for smaller denomination banknotes to replace gold coin during the French Revolutionary Wars . It was later discontinued. £5 The first Bank of England £5 note was issued in 1793 in response to the need for smaller denomination banknotes to replace gold coin during the French Revolutionary Wars (previously the smallest note issued had been £10).

The 1793 design, latterly known as the "White Fiver" (black printing on white paper), remained in circulation essentially unchanged until 1957 when the multicoloured (although predominantly dark blue) "Series B" note, depicting the helmeted Britannia was introduced. This note was replaced in turn in 1963 by the "Series C" £5 note which for the first time introduced the portrait of the monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, to the £5 note (the Queen's portrait having first appeared on the Series C ten shilling and one pound notes issued in 1960). In 1971 the "Series D" pictorial £5 note was issued, showing a slightly older portrait of the Queen and a battle scene featuring the Duke of Wellington on the reverse. On 7 June 1990 the "Series E" £5 note, by now the smallest denomination issued by the Bank, was issued. The Series E note (known as the "Historical Series") changed the colour of the denomination to a turquoise blue, and incorporated design elements to make photocopying and computer reproduction of the notes more difficult.

Initially the reverse of the Series E £5 note featured the railway engineer George Stephenson , but on 21 May 2002 a new Series E note was produced featuring the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry . The initial printing of several million Stephenson notes was destroyed when it was noticed that the wrong year for his death had been printed. The original issue of the Fry banknote was withdrawn after it was found the ink on the serial number could be rubbed off the surface of the note. The Stephenson £5 note was withdrawn as legal tender from 21 October 2003, at which time it formed around 54 million of the 211 million £5 notes in circulation. £10 A £10 Bank of England note. The first ten pound note was issued in 1759, when the Seven Years War caused severe gold shortages. Following the withdrawal of the denomination after the Second World War, it was not reintroduced until the Series C design of the mid 1960s produced the brown ten pound note.

The Series D pictorial note appeared in 1975, featuring nurse Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) on the reverse, plus a scene showing her work at the army hospital in Scutari during the Crimean War . This note was subsequently replaced in the early 1990s by the Series E note, where the predominant colour was changed from brown to orange. The reverse of the first Series E £10 featured Charles Dickens and a scene from the Pickwick Papers (this note was withdrawn from circulation in July 2003), while a second Series E note was issued in 2000 featuring Charles Darwin , the HMS Beagle , a hummingbird, and flowers under a magnifying glass, illustrating the Origin of Species . The hummingbird's inclusion has been criticised, since Darwin's ideas were spurred by finches and mockingbirds , not hummingbirds. [10] £20 After the Second World War , the £20 denomination did not reappear until Series D in the early 1970s. The predominant colour of this denomination is purple.

The reverse of the Series D £20 features a statue of William Shakespeare and the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet . In 1992 this note was replaced by the first Series E note, featuring the physicist Michael Faraday and the Royal Institution lectures. By 1999 this note had been extensively copied, and therefore it became the first denomination to be replaced by a second Series E design, featuring a bolder denomination figure at the top left of the obverse side, and a reverse side featuring the composer Sir Edward Elgar and Worcester Cathedral . The £20 banknote was known to have suffered from higher cases of counterfeiting (276,000 out of 290,000 cases detected in 2007) than any other denominations. [11] In February 2006, the Bank announced a new design for the note [12] which featured Scottish economist Adam Smith with a drawing of a pin factory – the institution which supposedly inspired his theory of economics. Smith is the first Scot to appear on a Bank of England note, although the economist has already appeared on Scottish Clydesdale Bank £50 notes.

The design of the £20 note was controversial for two reasons: the choice of a Scottish figure on an English note was a break with tradition; and the removal of Elgar took place in the year of the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, causing a group of English MPs to table a motion in the House of Commons calling for the new design to be delayed. [13] [14] The new note entered circulation on 13 March 2007. [15] £50 The fifty pound denomination did not reappear until 1981 when a Series D design was issued featuring the architect Christopher Wren and the plan of Saint Paul's Cathedral on the reverse of this large note. In 1994 this denomination was the last of the Series E issue, when the Bank commemorated its own impending tercentenary by putting its first governor, Sir John Houblon on the reverse. A new design featuring James Watt and Matthew Boulton was announced by the Bank of England. It is expected to enter circulation around November 2010 and will be the first Bank of England note to feature two portraits on the reverse. [16] [17] .

The predominant colour of this denominator is red. £100 The Bank of England does not currently issue £100 notes; however several banks issue this denomination in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Further information: Banknotes of Northern Ireland and Banknotes of Scotland £1,000,000 and £100,000,000 The bank notes issued by the banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland are required to be backed pound for pound by Bank of England notes. Due to the large number of notes issued by these banks it would be cumbersome and wasteful to hold Bank of England notes in the standard denominations. High denomination notes, for one million pounds ("Giants") and one hundred million pounds ("Titans"), are used for this purpose. These are used only internally within the Bank and are never seen in circulation. [9] Counterfeits and old notes An Operation Bernhard forgery of the Bank of England five pound note. During the Second World War the German Operation Bernhard attempted to counterfeit various denominations between £5 and £50 producing 500,000 notes each month in 1943.

The original plan was to parachute the money on Britain in an attempt to destabilise the British economy, but it was found more useful to use the notes to pay German agents operating throughout Europe — although most fell into Allied hands at the end of the war, forgeries were frequently appearing for years afterwards, so all denominations of banknote above £5 were subsequently removed from circulation. All old Bank of England notes remain exchangeable for current notes forever. Forgeries however will be retained and destroyed by the Bank (including Bernhard notes). If a suspect note is found to be genuine a full refund by cheque will be made. However it is a criminal offence to knowingly hold or pass a counterfeit bank note without lawful authority or excuse. In popular culture The 2007 film, The Counterfeiters tells the story of Salomon Sorowitsch, a Jewish forger who is put to work forging Bank of England notes on Operation Bernhard in Sachsenhausen concentration camp .

Mark Twain 's short story The Million Pound Bank Note deals with an impoverished American in London who is given the use of a million-pound Bank of England note for thirty days—two Englishmen betting whether or not he will be able to survive on a note for which he cannot possibly be given change. He does succeed in surviving, quite well, and marries one of the bettors' daughters. The story was also made into a 1953 film, The Million Pound Note stars Gregory Peck . A fictionalized version of the Operation Bernhard story was the topic of a comedy drama serial Private Schulz (starring Michael Elphick and Ian Richardson ) produced by the BBC in 1980. The 2001 TV film Hot Money staring Caroline Quentin tells the story of three workers at the Bank who come up with a method of stealing from the cages containing old notes waiting to be destroyed. References

Question: In which year did the Bank of England 10 shilling note cease to be legal tender?
Answer: 1970