Provincial Bank of Ireland Blue Notes 1903-1919

[DOC]

The Provincial Bank of Ireland issued an attractive series of blue multi-branch notes from 1903-1919. Blue notes are known for the £1, £3, £5, £10 and £20 denominations. No issued examples of the £50 and £100 notes are known but these may have been black and white in colour.

Notes of this series are scarce with issued non-cancelled, cut-cancelled and proof notes available to collectors. Examples of each type are attached for the £1 notes. In general, notes of this series appear to have been signed by branch managers although other officials in the bank branches sometimes signed them.

PB 1 Pound Proof 2nd Nov. 1903.jpg (155.55 KiB) Viewed 492 times

PB-1-Pound-2nd-Nov-1903-C-Fitzgerald.jpg (32.31 KiB) Viewed 380 times

PB-1-Pound-2nd-Nov-1903-John-Alton.jpg (47.15 KiB) Viewed 380 times

[DOC]

Provincial Bank £3 Blue notes are very rare even in cut cancelled form. One of the few known examples is attached.

PB-3-Pounds-3rd-Oct.jpg (46.48 KiB) Viewed 380 times

[Mac]

The blue £3 and £20 notes are both very rare, likely with low printages.

[DOC]

Yes, the £3 and £20 denominations are very rare. I have only seen one example of a £20, a nice issued non-cancelled note with signature W.H.Baker. If anyone knows of any other examples even in cut-cancelled or proof form, it would be interesting to hear about their details.

PB-20-Pounds-20th-Oct.-1904-W.H.Baker.jpg (40.48 KiB) Viewed 322 times

[Mac]

The Provincial Bank appears to have been a bit uncertain as to how to approach prefixing on the blue notes. When the £1 notes were introduced they started out with prefix A/5, illustrated, continuing from the earlier all-black series. Then the serial numbers were reset to start again at 1, and continuing with single letter prefixes starting at A.
Notes without prefix, and letters A to G all appeared on banknotes dated 2 November 1903. Thereafter most dates used one prefix only, which was how the bank's £1 notes had previously been issued.

provincial-bank-of-ireland-1-pound-1903-1-april-A5.jpg (36.61 KiB) Viewed 318 times

[DOC]

Interesting observation. It seems that The Provincial Bank considered the blue notes to be just a continuation of the black and white series. The £5 notes started with prefix F which was a continuation from the last black and white notes. However, there appears to have been a change of mind with the adoption of a new sequence in 1904. Examples attached.

I wonder what prompted the change of mind? One possibility is that a colour change was regarded as significant by users of the notes and the bank reacted to this.

[ThePloughman]

I guess they might have decided to restart numbers on all the denominations once they did so on the £1 notes. It kinda fits datewise.

[DOC]

The blue £10 denomination is seldom offered. Black & white proofs and issued non-cancelled notes are known. Examples attached. An example issued in 1919 has also been recorded.

PB-10-Pounds-10th-October-1918-J.J.Mitchell.jpg (45.8 KiB) Viewed 55 times

PB-10-Pounds-Proof-10th-June-1904.jpg (42.56 KiB) Viewed 55 times