£10 notes

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.

D H F Somerset served as Chief Cashier at the Bank of England from 1980-1988. During that time there were 4 different £10 notes issued. We are delighted to be able to offer choice examples of the first variety with the reference B346. This was the issue with the least number of notes printed, maybe because the prefixes were a continuation from those issued with J B Page’s signature. The front has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in State Robes while the back honours Florence Nightingale. A vignette of her work in Scutari during the Crimea War also appears. Choice AUnc examples of Somerset’s First £10 at just £75 each Limited availability.

The most elusive of the Somerset £10 notes is the 4th and last variety (B349) This was the first £10 note to feature a segmented silver foil ‘stardust security thread’ which when held to the light appeared as a continuous thread. HM the Queen is on the front with vignettes of Florence Nightingale and her work in the Crimea on the back We are delighted offer Crisp Uncirculated examples of the last Somerset £10.

D H F Somerset was Chief Cashier at the Bank of England between 1980 and 1988. During that period, there were 4 distinct varieties of the Florence Nightingale £10 note. Three had a hidden security thread and 1 had a stardust silver thread. The last of the £10 notes with the buried security thread have the catalogue reference B348 in Vincent Duggleby's English Paper Money. These were also the first £10 note to be printed on giant web presses with the fronts printed in intaglio and the backs with offset lithography. The Bank included a little L on the back to distinguish this variety from others.

J.S. Fforde, brown £10 note in high grade.

Issued in 1993, these £10 notes are in Crisp Uncirculated condition (B369) They bear the signature of Graham Kentfield as Chief Cashier, a post he held until 1999. Printed on sheetfed presses, the front has a mature portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with a vignette of Britannia and a diamond-shaped symbol to assist the partially sighted. The back features a portrait of Charles Dickens and an illustration of the cricket match between Dingley Dell and All Muggleton, from his first novel The Pickwick Papers. Sold in Crisp Uncirculated.

Bank of England, G.M. Gill Chief Cashier (1988-1991), £10 'Florence Nightingale' (B354) Crisp Uncirculated.

We are delighted to offer choice examples of the J B Page Portrait £10 issued in 1971(B326) The fronts have a youthful portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with a lion astride the back trailing a ribbon from its mouth. Choice examples of the last Portrait £10 before it was replaced a mere 4 years later in 1975.

The Bank of England issued the £10 note with Charles Darwin on the back in November 2000 while Merlyn Lowther was Chief Cashier. The first notes which rolled off the presses had an error in the Copyright panel with an extra ‘The’ appearing in the inscription. So many millions were printed before the bank realised its mistake and corrected the error that this is now regarded as a separate variety. We can offer Crisp Uncirculated versions of the Corrected Lowther Darwin £10. (B390) They are distinguished from the previous issue by the removal of the extra word ‘The’ in the copyright legend. These paper £10 notes, disappeared from circulation are now over 17 years old and increasingly difficult to find in high grade. Crisp Uncirculated Lowther Corrected £10 note.

When this Lowther £10 note was issued in November 2000, it took a bit of time before it was realised there was a mistake in the wording of the Copyright details around the watermark area. Somehow an extra THE had slipped in. So many had been printed before the error was noticed that is now regarded as a variety (B388) Eventually the error was corrected. We are delighted to be able to offer some of the first notes all with the prefix AA01. Uncirculated and always an important note!

We are delighted to be able to offer the exceptionally attractive Royal Bank of Scotland Polymer £10. It features a portrait of Mary Somerville, a 19th century science writer, astronomer and polymath. She was the joint first female member of the Royal Astronomical Society with Caroline Hirschel. She was also an advocate of women’s rights and the Oxford Somerville College (formerly all female) was named after her. Otters at play make a charming reverse.

Victoria Cleland is no longer Chief Cashier at the Bank of England, having been promoted. She was succeeded by Sarah John in June 2018. It was during Cleland’s term of office that the Bank of England started the transition from paper to polymer banknotes. The Polymer £10 note issued in September 2017 features a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front with a portrait of Jane Austen alongside a view of Godmersham House on the back. Instead of the embedded security thread of the paper £10 note, a see-through security panel serves the same purpose.

Victoria Cleland £10 Orange Historical B411 Queen / Darwin Unc