British and World Paper Money

One Pound, August 1914, A 000001 (Dugg. T1). Repairs on back, pinholes on left side and a tiny piece out of left edge, otherwise very good, of the highest importance as the very first issued Treasury note £6,000-8,000

Provenance: Auctioned twice in 1914, with the proceeds of £222 going to the war effort; with Mr F. Wright, of White Cross Motors, Guiseley, Yorkshire, 1956; sold by Wright to Martin Shaw for £100, May 1968; Spink Auction 103, 13 April 1994, lot 518 (£3,100).

Sold with a newspaper cutting from the Yorkshire Evening Post, 30 October 1956, describing the note, a letter to Wright from the paper’s Deputy London Editor, E.C. Russell, 18 December 1956, and a handwritten receipt for £100 from Wright at East Chevin, Otley, 21 May 1968.

The Currency and Bank Notes Act, empowering the Treasury to issue notes of £1 and 10s with full legal tender status, was passed on 5 August 1914. Printing of the notes at Waterlows had begun the previous day and the first stock was delivered to the Treasury at Somerset House on the evening of 6 August