Bank of Ireland 1929–continuing

[DOC]

In 1984 Bank of Ireland issued £20 notes with a slightly modified design dropping the text referring to the Bicentenary. Standard issue and replacement notes are known for this type, examples attached.

[DOC]

The £100 note issued in 1983 is the highest denomination for the O’Neill Sterling Issue notes (scan attached). Specimens are known but no replacement notes have been observed.

[DOC]

In 1985, the last dateless type of the Second Northern Ireland Issue was released, with the signature of D.J. Harrison. The £1 denomination was discontinued but the following denominations were issued: £5, £10, £20 & £100. Standard issue and replacement notes are available to collectors. Examples of the standard issue and replacement £5 notes are attached.

[DOC]

Here are examples of the standard issue and replacement £10 notes with the Harrison signature issued in the mid to late 1980's.

[DOC]

Here are examples of the standard issue and replacement £20 notes with the Harrison signature issued in the mid to late 1980's.

[DOC]

Here is a £100 note bearing the Harrison signature first issued in 1985. No replacement notes have been observed to date for the £100 notes. This completes the notes of the Second Northern Ireland Series. A noteworthy feature of this Series is the absence of dates.

[Mac]

I doubt they used replacement notes on the £100 -they would likely have been spotted by now, surely?- if there was the normal number of errors (0.5% or less) they may have preferred to replace errors by hand using the same number as the error notes, or printing extra notes at the end of the print run to make up the numbers.
The error rate for the £20 notes looks to be around 0.012%, if it were similar for the £100 notes that would lead to around 1000 replacement £100 notes, perhaps enough to be spotted by collectors, and not enough to warrant a special printing operation.

[DOC]

Yes, I think we should have spotted a £100 replacement for this Series if they were printed. It is unlikely that one will turn up. However, the Bank of Ireland did start using a marked replacement system for the £100 notes of the next series. This is probably related to an increase in issue rates.

[DOC]

In 1990, Bank of Ireland introduced its Third Northern Ireland Series with notes of a new design. The front of each note now features the seated figure of Hibernia and the Six County Shields while the reverse depicts Queen’s University Belfast. The notes again have dates (first time since 1958) and signature of D.J. Harrison. The following denominations were issued: £5, £10, £20 & £100. Standard issue, replacement and specimen notes are available to collectors.

An example of the standard issue £5 note, front & back is shown. Three dates are known for the £5 notes with Harrison signature: 28th August 1990, 16th January 1992, 1st July 1994.

[DOC]

Here are examples of the replacement and specimen £5 notes with the Harrison signature.

[DOC]

Two dates are known for the Third Series £10 notes with Harrison signature: 14th May 1991 and 28th May 1992. Examples of the standard issue, replacement and specimen notes are shown for the first date.

[DOC]

Two dates are known for the Third Series £20 notes with Harrison signature: 9th May 1991 and 28th May 1993. Examples of the standard issue, replacement and specimen notes are shown for the first date.

[DOC]

One date is known for Third Series £100 notes with the Harrison signature: 28th August 1992. Standard issue, replacement and specimen notes have been observed. Examples of the standard issue and replacement notes are attached. The replacement note is rare with possibly as few as 1,000 notes printed.

[DOC]

In 1995, Bank of Ireland introduced a new issue with the signature of G.McGinn. The title of the signatory was changed from Manager to Chief Executive N.I. although the designs are very similar to the previous issue with the signature of Harrison. The following denominations were issued between 1995 and 2003: £5, £10, £20, £50 & £100. This was the first introduction of the £50 denomination by the bank as part of its Northern Ireland Series.

Standard issue, replacement and specimen notes are available to collectors.

Three dates are known for the £5 notes: 1st July 1997, 4th August 1998 and 5th September 2000. An example of the last date is shown, front and reverse. Replacement notes have been reported but appear to be scarce. An example will be posted should one become available

Replacement note added

[Jenny007]

How rare is the Type A 1929 £20 note ? It looks like only one date and have not seen too many for sale over the last few years

[Mac]

The 1929 £20 note is rarer than t he Lavery 1928 £50 or £100 note.
Bank of Ireland appears to have favoured the issue of low denomination notes, relatively few 1929 £20 notes were printed.

I have seen 6 decent grade examples, 2 of which would grade VF, the others being in the Fine region.
Also, there is a group of 3 or 4 very low grade examples, in poor grade with bits missing, tape and graffiti.

EDIT: Two of the notes I have recorded are on offer in the DNW auction of Irish notes in March. We'll get to see what they are worth then!

[DOC]

Yes, the Bank of Ireland 1929 £20 is a rare note. I am curious about the examples in poor grade, example attached. How could this level of damage occur? Only a rare note would have been saved in such low grade.

[Mac]

Here are two of the nicer examples.

[Mac]

Here is a second example of the 1929 £20 note in very low grade, number X/10 002235.
As far as I recall, there were a few of these which surfaced together in a group.

[DOC]

I have recorded seven low grade examples of the Bank of Ireland 1929 £20 with significant damage. They may all be from the same wad and appear to have suffered water/moisture damage. The serial numbers are as follows: X/10: 000901, 001497, 002146, 002222, 002235, 002307, 002394.

Number X/10 002307 is attached. Fully intact, higher grade examples do appear to be rare.