Article July 10, 1902 Issue

Bank of England Notes

Tid Bits

If you are a privileged visitor in the Bank of England. one of the most interesting of the many curiosities and treasures that will he shown to you is a framed bank-note more than two centuries old. This note, which bears the date "19 day of Xber, 1699," and is signed by Thomas Madock, the "Horace Bowen" of that remote day, hears quite a strong casual resemblance to its crisp and coveted successors of our own time.

If we examine it, however, we shall find many differences on the face of it. To begin with, it is for the unusual sum of £555; the date, number, amount, and signature are all in writing; and written across its face are notes of repayment of the £555 in three instalments.

But between this, the oldest known Bank of England note, and the notes of to-day, in spite of the superficial resemblance even to the water-mark, there is almost as great an essential difference as between Stephenson's Rocket and the latest marvel in modern locomotives. In fact, it would be difficult to name a more remarkable product of human ingenuity than the crisp oblong of paper known as a Bank of England note.

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