Provincial Bank of Ireland 1929

[DOC]

Here is an example of a £5 note from the Second Northern Ireland Series with the signature of G.A. Kennedy. The £5 notes now have a fractional prefix.

[Mac]

I note the serial number is also well above 100000, close to the end of N/A.

[DOC]

Provincial Bank of Ireland £10 notes of the Second Northern Ireland Series were issued between 1938 and 1946 with the G.A. Kennedy signature. The front panel and the reverse design were changed to a red colour. An example from 1938 is attached.

[DOC]

The Provincial Bank experimented with new designs in 1946, introducing a lattice pattern to the previous design. These notes are only known in proof form with the Kennedy signature. Denominations of £1, £5 and £10 have been observed. Examples of the £1 and £10 denominations are attached.

[DOC]

£1, £5 and £10 notes with the lattice design and signature of H.W.M. Clarke were issued between 1948 and 1951. The £1 note is known in issued and proof form with the date, 1st September 1951. The issued notes are rare.

Provincial-Bank-1-Pound-1st-Sept-1951-Clarke.jpg (60.28 KiB) Viewed 2565 times

Provincial-Bank-1-Pound-Proof-1st-Sept-1951-Clarke.jpg (79.31 KiB) Viewed 2565 times

[DOC]

Provincial Bank £5 notes with the lattice design are more obtainable than the £1 notes and four dates are known between 1948 and 1952. The 1948 note has a fractional N/B prefix while the later dates have an in-line NB prefix. The reverse design is similar to that of notes issued between 1935 and 1946.

Provincial-Bank-of-Ireland-5-Pounds-5th-Jan-1948.jpg (89.49 KiB) Viewed 2429 times

Provincial-Bank-of-Ireland-5-Pounds-5th-Feb-1951.jpg (94.35 KiB) Viewed 2429 times

Provincial-Bank-of-Ireland-5-Pounds-5th-Feb-1951-reverse.jpg (51.66 KiB) Viewed 2429 times

[Mac]

Interesting that the £1 notes are scarcer than the £5.

[DOC]

Provincial Bank £10 notes with the lattice design and Clarke signature were issued with one date, 10th January 1948. Proof notes are also known without serial numbers. Examples are attached.

[DOC]

The Provincial Bank significantly changed its banknote design with a new issue released in 1954. The front now features a cameo of a female head while the reverse depicts the Bank’s Head Office in Belfast. All notes bear the signature of N. J. Shaw and originally had the printer’s imprint of Waterlow & Sons changing to De La Rue & Co Ltd after the takeover of Waterlow’s in 1961.

The 1954 £1 notes are scarce particularly in nice condition.

[DOC]

The Provincial Bank of Ireland also issued the £5 denomination in 1954 with signature of N. J. Shaw. These notes with the Shaw signature and Waterlow printer’s imprint are not as scare as the £1 notes as other dates were issued during the 1950’s.

[DOC]

Here are examples of Provincial Bank of Ireland £1 and £5 notes bearing the Shaw signature and printers imprint Thomas De La Rue & Co Ltd. This variant with signature of Shaw, was issued from 1961 to 1965.

[DOC]

De La Rue specimens of the £1 and £5 notes with signature of Shaw are also known, examples attached.

[DOC]

The Provincial Bank issued reduced sized £1 and £5 notes with the signature of J E McClay from 1968-1972. Standard issue, replacement and specimen notes are available to collectors. Here is an example of a £1 standard issue note.

[DOC]

Here is an example of a reduced size, De La Rue Specimen £1 note, with the McClay signature. Specimens have been observed spanning dates 1968-1972 and prefixes LN to TN. The first replacement £1 notes, prefix ZZ, were issued with the date 1st January 1972. These notes are scarce and seldom offered for sale.

[DOC]

Here is an example of a Provincial Bank £5 reduced size note from the 1968-1972 issue, bearing the McClay signature. The first replacment notes appeared in 1972 with prefix ZZ.

[DOC]

Here are examples of reduced size, De La Rue Specimen £5 notes, with the McClay signature. Specimens have been observed spanning dates 1968-1972. It is interesting to see that two colours were used for the De La Rue overprints, black and red.

[DOC]

The Provincial Bank of Ireland introduced a new series in 1977. The £1 notes feature the idealised portrait of a boy while the reverse features The Girona, a warship of the Spanish Armada which sank off the coast of Antrim in 1588. The notes have the printed signature of J G McClay.

Standard issue, replacement and specimen notes are known. The replacement notes have the serial prefix ZY and are seldom seen. Here are examples of the standard issue and specimen notes.

[DOC]

Here is an example of the standard issue £1 note.

[DOC]

Here is an interesting example of a trial design for the Provincial Bank of Ireland issue of 1977. This design was not adopted and the portrait of the boy was subsequently modified.

[DOC]

The £5 note of the 1977 Series features the idealised portrait of a girl while on the reverse there is a depiction of the famous Dunluce Castle, located on the North Antrim Coast. The 1977 notes have the printed signature of J G McClay.

Standard issue, replacement and specimen notes are known. Additional items of interest such as proofs, stage proofs and uncut sheets are also available to collectors. These were released from the bank’s archives in 2020 in a series of auctions to raise money for charity.

Here is an example of a standard issue £5 note (front & back) along with a specimen note (front).