Rare and old coins, banknotes, us coins, uk coins, ancient coins and more hard to find rare coins from the world for coin collectors.

Other British Banknotes

Sterling banknotes are the banknotes in circulation in the British Islands (encompassing the United Kingdom and the British Crown dependencies), denominated in pounds sterling (symbol: £; ISO 4217 currency code GBP). One pound is equivalent to 100 pence. more...

Home

Ancient Coins

Banknotes

British

Armed Forces

Channel Islands/ Isle of Man

Cheques

Collections/ Bulk Lots

English

Elizabeth II (1952-Now)

Pre-1952

Northern Irish

Other British Banknotes

Postal Orders

Scottish

Collections/ Bulk Lots

European

Irish

Novelty/ Replica Banknotes

World

British Coins

Bullion/ Bars

Collections/ Bulk Lots

European Coins

Historical Medals/...

Ireland

Novelty/ Replica

Publications

Share Certificates/ Bonds

Supplies/ Equipment

Tokens

United States Coins

World Coins

The pound is the official currency of the United Kingdom and the Crown dependencies of Britain. Three British Overseas Territories also have currencies called pounds which are at par with the pound sterling.

In the United Kingdom, seven retail banks have the right to print their own banknotes in addition to the Bank of England. Unlike most other countries, banknote issue in Britain is not automatically tied in with one national identity or the activity of the state. In the Crown dependencies and Overseas Territories, the dependency or territorial governments are also licensed to issue their own pound sterling banknotes.

History

Until the middle of the nineteenth century, privately owned banks in Great Britain and Ireland were free to issue their own banknotes and money issued by provincial English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish banking companies circulated freely as a means of payment. As gold shortages affected the supply of money, note-issuing powers of the banks were gradually restricted by various Acts of Parliament, until the Bank Charter Act 1844 gave exclusive note-issuing powers to the central Bank of England. Under the Act, no new banks could start issuing notes and note-issuing banks gradually vanished through mergers and closures. The last private English banknotes were issued in 1921 by Fox, Fowler and Company, a Somerset bank.

However, some of the monopoly provisions of the Bank Charter Act only applied to England and Wales. The Bank Notes (Scotland) Act was passed the following year, and to this day, three retail banks retain the right to issue their own sterling banknotes in Scotland, and four in Northern Ireland. Notes issued in excess of the value of notes outstanding in 1844 (1845 in Scotland) must be backed up by an equivalent value of Bank of England notes.