A £1,000 BANKNOTE FROM THE 1936 THAT COULD HAVE BOUGHT AN ENTIRE HOUSE AT THE TIME TO BE OFFERED AT DIX NOONAN WEBB - Sale also includes a rare banknote from the Isle of Man-

A rare £1,000 note - representing the last issuance of such a vast denomination by the Bank of England will be offered for sale in an auction of British and Irish Banknotes at Dix Noonan Webb, the international coins, medals, banknotes and jewellery specialists, on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 11am at their auction rooms in central Mayfair - 16 Bolton St, London, W1J 8BQ. It is estimated to fetch £24,000-30,000. Dated 20 November 1936, the Bank of England note was signed by Kenneth O. Peppiatt, and is in extremely fine condition.

As Andrew Pattison Head of Department, Banknotes at Dix Noonan Webb, explains: “£1,000 was an immense sum in the 1930s, and could have bought several large houses or businesses in some areas of the UK.  Hardly anyone would even have known about these notes, let alone seen or handled one.  Nevertheless, a few have survived and they always attract a lot of interest when they come to auction.  They can of course be exchanged at the Bank of England for £1,000 of modern banknotes, but with an expected price of £30,000 or more, you probably wouldn’t want to!”

Another very fine and an utterly exceptional note, of the highest rarity is a £50 from the Bank of England. Dates from 6 May 1858, the note is signed by Matthew Marshall, however the lower right is corner torn off (deliberate cancellation), but the remains of J. Williams signature still visible. It is estimated at £10,000-£15,000.


Pattison comments: “The £50 note of 1858 was issued under the chief cashier, Matthew Marshall.  Any Marshall note is rare, and a £50 exceptionally so.  In fact, there are significantly fewer of these around today than the £1,000 note in the sale.  Notes of this period were all hand signed, but this example was cancelled at some point in its history by tearing the signature away from the lower right of the note.  This does significantly impact the value, but considering the note is now more than 160 years old, it is still in remarkably good condition.  This exact design was used for a further 100 years before being redesigned in the 1950s.”  

Also of interest in the sale is a fine and excessively rare Parr’s Bank Limited, Isle of Man £1 note dating from 1 June 1906, which is estimated to fetch £4,000-5,000. Parr’s Bank Ltd, so termed in 1896, originated as Parr, Lyon & Co in Warrington in 1782; it became a joint-stock bank in 1865. The bank acquired the troubled Dumbell’s Banking Co in February 1900, a transaction in which Parr’s chief superintendant of branches, Thomas Mylechreest, a former Dumbell’s employee, was principally involved. Parr’s first Manx notes were issued in May 1900 and the bank amalgamated with London County & Westminster Bank in 1918

Pattison finishes by saying: “The Parrs Bank £1 of 1906 is certainly the star note from the last part of the exceptional Shimmin Collection.  It is a classic and popular design, and the last one to come to market at all was in 2006.  Parrs Bank originated as far back as 1782, and was only swallowed up by the London County & Westminster Bank in 1918.  The bank issued notes on the Isle of Man for less than 20 years, and the earlier samples are extremely rare.  Due to excellent records we know that only 12 examples of this date were not redeemed. Since it is likely that many of these were simply destroyed or lost, it is probably that this is one of only a handful of examples to survive.” 

NEXT SALE: AUCTION OF WORLD BANKNOTES ON OCTOBER 1, 2019
Public viewing is held two days before the sale between 10am – 5pm and free online bidding is available is www.dnw.co.uk.
For more information, please call 020 7016 1700