PREVIEW: BRITISH AND IRISH BANKNOTES: 17 OCTOBER

Sir John Gordon Nairne, 1st Baronet (1861-1945) was a director of the Bank of England and an early BBC governor. Having joined the bank of England as a cashier in 1893, within a decade he was Chief Cashier, a post he held until 1918.

Nairne’s occupation of the post coincided with the Great War, and in 1914 as the war was about to begin, the Bank faced a run on its gold reserves as the public sought to protect their personal wealth, just at the moment when the nation needed gold the most.

 

The answer was to issue more bank notes in return for gold deposits circulating in the economy, a move that saved the day as hostilities continued over the next four years.

Until 1921, Bank of England notes were issued from other centres around England, including Bristol, where the five pound note bearing Nairne’s signature in this sale was dated January 20, 1916. Today that note is only one of two known, the other residing in an old collection with little prospect of it being released.

Printed on superb original paper, with one small ink numeral at the centre, and otherwise a fresh and clean note in good very fine condition, it is among the rarest of the 20th century branch notes and is estimated here at £15,000-20,000.