J B Page Portrait £1 B321 Replacement R-M Prefix AUnc

Known by collectors as the Britannia Blue, this £5 replaced the iconic Bank of England White £5 in 1957. It is one of the most impressive designs of the whole Bank of England series. It had a very short life because, in 1960, the Bank started to introduce notes with the Queen’s portrait for the first time and this series was never completed. A helmeted Britannia is on the front and a lion holding a key is on the back. An iconic note in its own right and available now in A Unc.

During the Second World War, the Bank of England did away with all denominations above £5 in an attempt to thwart counterfeiters. It wasn’t until 1964, when J Q Hollom was Chief Cashier, that the Bank reintroduced the £10 denomination into circulation. These new £10 notes followed the Portrait series with a youthful portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front with a lion trailing a ribbon in its mouth and holding a two-sided key in its paws on the back. This remained the highest denomination until 1970 and was issued under three different Chief Cashiers. We recently purchased a run of these first Portrait £10 notes with J Q Hollom’s signature (B299) They have seen no circulation and grade Crisp Good Extremely Fine. Lovely examples of the first Portrait £10 note in GEF.

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 Fine, Very Fine and Extremely Fine and Uncirculated Image of note is a representative item from stock and will not necessarily be the actual item supplied.