Maunsell, George & Co. Bank of Limerick. 1815-1820

[DOC]

Thomas Maunsell originally founded the Bank of Limerick in 1789 with partners Robert Maunsell, Sir Matthew Blakiston, Thomas Brooke and Richard Maunsell. It is believed to be the first bank founded in Limerick. The bank went through a number of partnership changes ultimately becoming George Maunsell & Co.
The note attached is an unusual high denomination 20 guinea note from the first partnership and printed between 1789 and 1794. The apparent date on the note 17th May 1829 is difficult to explain as the final partnership went into liquidation in 1820. Perhaps the date is intended to be 1819 or even 1809?

[Mac]

That is an interesting note.
20 Guineas was a nice high denomination for the time. Don’t see too many of those around.

The date certainly looks like 1829. It might be a badly written 1819, the style of the numeral 2 written on top in the denomination is different, thought it may have been written by another person.
The 8 of 18 in the date year is written on top of a 7, demonstrating the low issue of the denomination and suggesting that the note dates from the first printage of the notes in the 1700s.

[Mac]

30 Shillings.

Bank-of-Limerick-Maunsell-30-shilings-1815-1820x.jpg (33.22 KiB) Viewed 6009 times

[DOC]

Interesting to see another variation of this design for the 30 Shillings notes with a shaded panel top left for the serial number. This type appears to precede the one without shaded panel. The attached example was issued in 1816.

[ThePloughman]

The note attached is an unusual high denomination 20 guinea note from the first partnership and printed between 1789 and 1794. The apparent date on the note 17th May 1829.

This must be the only 20 Guinea out there. It is a very high denomination for a Guinea note.
Date definitely looks to be 1829 to me.

[DOC]

Yes, the 20 Guineas denomination is rare and the only one I have seen to date for the Irish Private Banks. That date really does look like 1829 but looking at it in more detail it appears to have been altered (date magnified in attached photo). The lighter ink suggests that the original year on the note is 1810. The zero is almost separate from the downward stroke of the ‘9’. It is difficult to explain why anyone would change the year but maybe it was attempt to obtain payment on the note long after dissolution of the bank?

[Mac]

The lighter ink suggests that the original year on the note is 1810.

Very interesting. It might possibly make the note a slight forgery!

[DOC]

An interesting thought. But still a note I would like to have in my collection