John Page (1970-1980)

Bank of England £5 with The Duke of Wellington vignette. Litho printed with 'L' on back.

It was while J B Page was Chief Cashier at the Bank of England in the 1970s that the Pictorial £5 was introduced. The front of the note has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in State Robes alongside a medallion of Britannia and a vignette of Winged Victory. The back has a portrait of the first Duke of Wellington and a vignette from the Peninsular War. There were several varieties of the Page Pictorial £5 and this issue we can offer Uncirculated examples of the second and third varieties which were printed on giant web presses (B334 presented here and 336) The fronts were printed intaglio and the backs offset litho, shown by the addition a small L on the back. If you are missing these varieties- now is the time to add to your collection in Crisp Uncirculated

It was while J B Page was Chief Cashier at the Bank of England that the Pictorial £10 was first introduced.(B330) This was in 1975. Through a series of Chief Cashiers and a few design tweaks, it was to last until 1992 when the Historical Series replaced it. The front has the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II while the back features a portrait of Florence Nightingale alongside a vignette of her hospital work at Scutari during the Crimean War. We recently purchased a group of the Page Nightingale £10 in Crisp AUncirculated. A lovely issue!

Bank of England £5 with The Duke of Wellington vignette.

It was while J B Page was Chief Cashier at the Bank of England that the so called Wellington £5 note was introduced in 1971. A portrait of Elizabeth II is on the front while a portrait of the Duke of Wellington dominates the back alongside a vignette from the Peninsular War. The very first of these Wellington £5 notes were printed in sheets of 18 and have the catalogue reference B332. The very first of these sheet printed Wellington £5 notes had the prefix A-. We were delighted to recently purchase a small group of these first Wellington £5 notes, all with the prefix A. Crisp Uncirculated.

J B Page £5 Pictorial B336 Queen Eliz/ Duke of Wellington EF

J B Page £1 Green Portrait B320 AU-Unc

These £1notes are Replacement notes, produced to replace notes damaged in production. They would have been inserted into packs and are identified by their prefix which usually contains the letter M. These are from the Portrait series when J B Page was Chief Cashier an the pregfixes could be either S-M, R-M or W-M (B321) Crisp AUnc.

J B Page £1 Green Portrait B321 Queen Eliz/ Young Britannia R-M Prefix Replacement AUnc

J B Page £1 Green Portrait B322 HZ Prefix Unc

J B Page was Chief Cashier at the Bank of England from 1970 to 1980. Two different designs for the £1 note were issued during his term. The first followed the so-called Portrait Series design with a youthful Queen Elizabeth II portrait on the front and a seated Young Britannia on the back, (B322) The last Page Portrait £1 notes issued all had the prefix HZ, much sought after by collectors (B322). Here we offer this note in Uncirculated with the HZ01 prefix.

J B Page £1 Green Portrait B322 Queen Eliz/ Young Britannia Unc

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.