Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

Banknotes issued by Joint Stock Banks prior to 1929
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ThePloughman
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Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

Post by ThePloughman »

Some of the earlier Bank of Ireland notes seem to be only available as Contemporary Forgeries, like this £1 note from 1821.
Have the genuine examples been cataloged?
bank-of-ireland-1-pound-1821-contemporary-forgery.jpg
bank-of-ireland-1-pound-1821-contemporary-forgery.jpg (32.4 KiB) Viewed 9051 times
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

Post by Mac »

There is at least one Genuine example of this design that I know of (dated 9 Oct 1819), and a couple of contemporary forgeries which have been 'adjusted' to appear genuine—these are easy enough to spot if you get a good look at them, although they have both been 'graded' and encased by one of the grading companies.
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Here's a nice grade 30 Shilling note forgery from 1812, in 2 halves, but still a nice example.
bank-of-ireland-30-shillings-1816-3-jan-forgery.jpg
bank-of-ireland-30-shillings-1816-3-jan-forgery.jpg (82.75 KiB) Viewed 9050 times
And an example of a later note with a modified design.
bank-of-ireland-30-shillings-1835-15-july-CP65689-forgery2.jpg
bank-of-ireland-30-shillings-1835-15-july-CP65689-forgery2.jpg (75.81 KiB) Viewed 9050 times
Even as forgeries they are quite nice examples.
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Yes, the early Bank of Ireland forgeries are in many cases faithful to the original design and as such are highly collectable. I attach a scan of a slightly different variant of the 30 Shillings note. The main difference to the 1816 example is in the bottom right hand corner where 1.10.0 replaces thirty.
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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And now with attachment !
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Bank of Ireland 30 Shillings Forgery 5th April 1820.jpg
Bank of Ireland 30 Shillings Forgery 5th April 1820.jpg (146.87 KiB) Viewed 7384 times
Last edited by DOC on 26 Feb 2021 22:39, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

Post by Mac »

The change to 1.10.0 on the bottom is an interesting little detail.
This is what adds variety for the collector!
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Another interesting little detail is the appearance of the denomination in the scrolling border from about 1820. This may have been added as a security feature?
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Bank of Ireland 30 Shillings Forgery 5th April 1820 Border Detail.jpg
Bank of Ireland 30 Shillings Forgery 5th April 1820 Border Detail.jpg (53.2 KiB) Viewed 7375 times
Last edited by DOC on 28 Feb 2021 12:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

Post by Mac »

The design of the notes became considerably more advanced with the introduction of this series.
I have noticed that on some of the forgeries the border region is thicker than on genuine notes of the period, perhaps reflecting some difficulty on the part of the forgers in matching the detail.


EDIT: Here are enlargements of the bottom section of two genuine notes, illustrating the addition of the denomination in words:
boi1y1817-bottom.jpg
boi1y1817-bottom.jpg (12.09 KiB) Viewed 9049 times
£1 1817
boi1y1821-bottom-genuine.jpg
boi1y1821-bottom-genuine.jpg (11.09 KiB) Viewed 9049 times
£1 1821
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Very interesting. It amazes me how quickly the forgers reacted to changes in design even if not managing to completely duplicate the design.
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Here are some early Bank of Ireland guinea denominations overprinted as forgeries.
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Bank of Ireland 1 Guinea 24th Dec.1800 Forgery.jpg
Bank of Ireland 1 Guinea 24th Dec.1800 Forgery.jpg (112.83 KiB) Viewed 7375 times
Bank of Ireland 1 & Half Guineas 18th Jan.1804 Forgery.jpg
Bank of Ireland 1 & Half Guineas 18th Jan.1804 Forgery.jpg (130.36 KiB) Viewed 7375 times
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Early forgeries provide an insight into the bank note designs of the time. Here is a Bank of Ireland £1 contemporary forgery from 1835.
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Bank of IrelandI 1 Pound Forgery 9th Sept. 1835 J.Young.jpg
Bank of IrelandI 1 Pound Forgery 9th Sept. 1835 J.Young.jpg (181.67 KiB) Viewed 6702 times
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Here is a Bank of Ireland Five Pound contemporary forgery from the same era. Quite a nice example, and intact, though very definitely identified by the bank as a forgery, considering the number of times it has been stamped with 'Forgery'!
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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That is a nice example and seldom seen, even as a forgery !
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

Post by Mac »

Even the Bank of Ireland archive is missing an example of this exact type of £5 note!
With a date in 1838, it is a very late for the design, with the new design of two statues and a row of Mercury heads being introduced in 1838.
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Interesting to see the 1838 date which is likely to correspond to the date of a genuine example. There is an example on the Irishpapermoney Website of a £20 note issued in 1862 with the pre-1838 design which suggests that old note stock was used up well after 1838 for the higher denomination notes.

https://www.irishpapermoney.com/old-iri ... ies-C.html
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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The Bank of Ireland experienced issues with forgers altering the value of £1 notes to higher denominations. An interesting example of an 1843 Bank of Ireland £1 note altered to £5 is shown on the Irishpapermoney site (link attached). Here is an interesting article from 1848 describing the altering of Bank of Ireland notes from £1 to £10.

https://www.irishpapermoney.com/special ... -1930.html
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Bank of Ireland Forgery 1848.JPG
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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A pity there is no illustration of an altered note.
I guess that £10 notes may have been very common in circulation, and as a result not too familiar to the public. there ar econsiderable differences in design between One and Ten Pound notes of the era.

There is an 1845 £1 note, from the Bank of ireland archive, pictured below, which is illustrated along with other denominations of the era. Unfortunately, a £10 note is not known of that era.

Image

However, one example of a Ten Pound note is known from a little later, 1861, which is a later Type with several branches added, but possibly of a broadly similar design to the 1848 Ten Pound notes. The 1861 note is pictured along with several other denominations of the same Type. All are from the Bank of Ireland archive.

Image

I have always wondered about the positioning of the wavy design element in the centre of the 1861 £10 note. It seems to clutter the design. Could it possibly have been added to the design after the 1848 forgery problems in order to make the £10 notes stand out more? We need to see more tenners of this era!
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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It is interesting to see that Bank of Ireland introduced the wavy security protector in the 1850’s most likely to prevent the alteration of lower denomination notes to higher denominations. I agree that the positioning of the security protector in the middle of the note on the 1861 £10 looks odd and it was eventually moved to a lower position. It would be great to see more examples of £10 notes from the 1840’s to the 1880’s to track the these design changes !
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

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Here is an interesting forgery of a Bank of Ireland £1 from 1808 which appeared at Noonans British and Irish Banknotes Auction this week. The quality of the forgery is reasonably good and there was much interest with a final hammer price exceeding the top estimate.
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BoI 1 Pound Forgery 13th July 1808.jpg
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Re: Early Bank of Ireland Contemporary Forgeries

Post by Mac »

Quite a good forgery. Bank of Ireland notes of this era are seldom seen in any form.
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