Series A Specimen Notes

A Forum for Discussion on the Lady Lavery A Series notes
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by DOC »

Here is an unusual Lady Lavery £10 Specimen note with the date, 3.1.62. Although the date is plausible, it does not appear to have been used on issued notes. A strange feature is the 01X prefix which would have been the prefix at the time for £20 notes.
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Lady Lavery 10 Pounds Specimen 3rd Jan. 1962.jpg
Lady Lavery 10 Pounds Specimen 3rd Jan. 1962.jpg (183.67 KiB) Viewed 7080 times
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by Mac »

This is a proof note made from a McElligott, Whitaker 1960 era note, where McElligott's signature has been removed, and O'Muimhneacháin's signature has been added. The denomination in words over the Sterling promise might be pasted in, or printed (not sure which). De La Rue did a few of these test notes with the new signature.

The 01X prefix is interesting, considering that it was used on the 11.3.63 £1 notes.
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by DOC »

Well spotted, I had not noticed the signature alteration myself !

This is a printers 'Paste Up' Proof. The paste over in the sterling promise section is clearly visible at higher resolution.
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Lady Lavery Proof 10 Pounds 3rd Jan. 1962 Sterling Promise Overpaste.jpg
Lady Lavery Proof 10 Pounds 3rd Jan. 1962 Sterling Promise Overpaste.jpg (91.23 KiB) Viewed 7069 times
Lady Lavery 10 Pounds Proof  3rd Jan. 1962 Altered Signature.jpg
Lady Lavery 10 Pounds Proof 3rd Jan. 1962 Altered Signature.jpg (104.6 KiB) Viewed 7069 times
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by Mac »

There are a few more of these new signature proofs around also.
I have seen a £5 note, and a £100 note. I presume they were done for each of the denominations. I have not seen them for earlier or later signature changes, so it may be a function of De La Rue taking over the printing of the notes.
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by JohnnyQ »

It’s also the numbering typeface of the £20 note as well as the prefix letter.
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by JohnnyQ »

It also appears to have a plate letter.
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by Mac »

JohnnyQ wrote: 03 Mar 2021 20:12 It also appears to have a plate letter.
Indeed it does!
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by DOC »

Here is an interesting Lady Lavery £100 specimen note with a real date from 1966 and no De La Rue overprint.
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Lady Lavery 100 Pounds Specimen 19th July 1966 O'Muimhneachain Whitaker.jpg
Lady Lavery 100 Pounds Specimen 19th July 1966 O'Muimhneachain Whitaker.jpg (215.62 KiB) Viewed 6319 times
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by Jenny007 »

By chance is there a list of the TDLR specimen notes issued?. It looks like based on the lower left corner that there were a # of variations of these issued ? Any thoughts/ insights is welcome.
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FA32E8B6-941D-4699-8E65-2ADD1934A7F8.jpg
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by DOC »

It seems that the number in the lower left hand corner was used by TDLR to track the number of specimens they provided. Here is an example with the number 17.
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Lavery 5 Pounds Specimen De La Rue ca. 1973 Whitaker Murray.jpg
Lavery 5 Pounds Specimen De La Rue ca. 1973 Whitaker Murray.jpg (83.76 KiB) Viewed 2399 times
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by callahiljo »

From my observations in the DLR archives some of these specimen numbers went up to 100 and in a few cases 200. Most of them are still in packs in their archives but of course a number of escapees have made it on to the market. They did use up a few of them to prepare pasted-up changes to the designs.
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by DOC »

These two Lavery £20 specimen notes from about 1961 differ in the colour of the ‘SPECIMEN’ overprint, one in red, the other in black.
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Lavery 20 Pounds Specimen 16th Jan. 01 O'Muimhneachain Whitaker Red.jpg
Lavery 20 Pounds Specimen 16th Jan. 01 O'Muimhneachain Whitaker Red.jpg (86.17 KiB) Viewed 1839 times
Lavery 20 Pounds Specimen 16th Jan. 01 O'Muimhneachain Whitaker Black.jpg
Lavery 20 Pounds Specimen 16th Jan. 01 O'Muimhneachain Whitaker Black.jpg (83.12 KiB) Viewed 1839 times
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by Mac »

That's interesting. There will be a story behind that somewhere!
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by Mac »

War code Specimen notes are among my favourite. The 10 Shillings is a particularly attractive note.

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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by DOC »

Here are examples of Lavery £10 and £50 Specimen notes with the McElligott Whitaker signature combination. These notes date from the period 1956-1960.
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Lavery 10 Pounds Specimen ca. 1956-1960 McElligott Whitaker.jpg
Lavery 10 Pounds Specimen ca. 1956-1960 McElligott Whitaker.jpg (191.25 KiB) Viewed 870 times
Lavery 50 Pounds Specimen ca. 1956-1960 McElligott Whitaker.jpg
Lavery 50 Pounds Specimen ca. 1956-1960 McElligott Whitaker.jpg (214.37 KiB) Viewed 870 times
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Re: Series A Specimen Notes

Post by Mac »

McElligott Whitaker specimens are one of the less common signature combinations seen as specimens. I guess relatively few of them were given out.
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