The introduction of the new Legal Tender Note series on 10 September 1928 dramatically changed the nature of the currency notes circulating in the Irish Free State. The various designs of Irish banknotes issued by the six joint stock commercial banks which had the right to issue notes since 1845 were replaced by two new design Irish notes, the Legal Tender Notes Series A 'Lady Lavery' design and the Consolidated Bank Notes which were issued in the names of the eight joint stock commercial banks operating in the Irish Free State.
Irish 10 pound notes were a relatively common denomination in general circulation in Ireland. The new Irish banknotes had legal tender status, which the old Irish banknotes of the commercial banks did not have. Legal tender status made little difference in everyday use as the old Irish notes of the commercial banks had been a very stable currency in use since 1826.
The Series A 'Lady Lavery' Irish 10 pound note was in use for 50 years, from 1928 to 1978, with the last date being 2.12.76. The Lavery 10 pound note was replaced by the Series B £10 note in 1978.
Ten Pound notes were the largest denomination Irish banknote in everyday circulation up until the 1960s. Irish 10 pound notes circulated in far higher quantities than higher denominations.
Except for notes dated 1928 and 1932, generally 100,000 notes were printed per prefix of all Irish 10 pound notes up to 1960, after which prefixes were extended to 1,000,000. Irish 10 pound notes were printed on sheets of six banknotes and numbered by machine, with banknote 100,000 of each prefix being numbered by hand up to 1960. On all Irish 10 pound notes dated from February 1960 serial numbers were extended to 1,000,000 per prefix, with note number 1,000,000 being numbered by hand.
When Irish banknotes were printed occasional rarer dates than normal were produced of all denominations. Some of these dates can be rare due to low printage, and some are sought-after as they occur on first or last dates of types or variations.
The value of an old Lady Lavery Irish 10 pound note today to banknote collectors depends largely on its age and condition. Some rarer dates and Types can easily fetch upwards of £1,000 in high grade. Lavery Irish 10 pound notes issued in the Irish Free State are scarce in grades GVF or better and would fetch well above £1,000. In lower grades Irish 10 pound notes are quite common from all eras.
The large version of the portrait of Lady Lavery was used on the Series A Irish Ten Pound note. The portrait on the 10 Pounds is 65 mm high.
Dimensions of the 10 pound Note are approximately 191 x 108 mm, as measured on two banknotes dated 10.9.28 and 7.11.41. Dimensions of notes can vary by a couple of millimetres.
Dark blue was chosen as the primary colour for the Series A Lavery 10 pound notes. The underprint on the note is olive green.
Obverse die proof in blue ink of an Irish 10 pound note without underprint for the 1938 Currency Commission Ireland design. [1. noonans.co.uk, 26 Aug 2021, Lot 274]
A 'River mask' based on the Riverine Sculptures taken from the facade of the Custom House in Dublin was selected for the centrepiece of the reverse of each Series A banknote.
For the 10 Pounds, the mask representing the River Bann in Co. Armagh was used. The river spirit is depicted wearing a headdress of a linen turban decorated with river pearls [2. Moynihan 1975, p. 127].
Left, the engraving of the river Bann mask, taken from the original (right) which adorns the facade above one of the windows on the front of the Custom House in Dublin. [3. Image at right ©Karl Whitney]
Lady Lavery Ten pound notes were issued under all of the design and signature variations for the Irish Legal Tender Notes up to 1976.
A major variation in design of Series A banknotes was the incorporation of a Special Identification Marking (SIM) 'War Code' into the design of the Irish 10 pound note during the Emergency period of World War 2. The War code is also known as an Emergency Tracer Overprint (ETO) code, though the war code is not actually an overprint. War code 10 pound notes were issued under both Issuing Authorities, Type 4 (1941-1942), and Type 5 (1943-1944).
Six war code letters were used on the Irish 10 pound note denomination.
War code letters E and F were used for Currency Commission issues on Irish 10 pound notes with three dates in 1941 and five dates in 1942.
On the Central Bank of Ireland 10 pounds, war code letters S, W, B, and G were used on notes dated in 1943 and 1944.
The displaced code variety, where for certain dates the last date of a war code exists with the previous code is an artefact of the printing operations of the 10 Shilling and £1 notes. The variety does not occur on £10 notes.
The bilingual text, in English on the left and in Irish on the right at the bottom of each Irish 10 Pound note indicates the link at parity with Sterling.
'Ten Pounds Sterling payable to bearer on demand in London'
'Tá Deich bPuint Sterling iníoctha as an nóta so le n-a shealbhóir ar n-a éilamh san do i Lundain'
The Sterling Promise in the bottom panel of every Lady Lavery Irish 10 Pound note dated 1928–1960
The sterling promise text was removed from the design on all Irish 10 pound notes printed from 1962 onwards.
1962–1976 Sterling promise replaced by the denomination in words 'TEN POUNDS' 'DEICH BPUINT'
All Irish Legal Tender Notes were printed on watermarked paper, manufactured by Portals Ltd. in London. On the Irish 10 pound notes the watermark consisted of the Head of Eirin on the bottom right, a feature of each note on all denominations, with additional watermarks specific to the £10 denomination in the centre of each note.
The centre watermarks varied on the lower denomination of the Lavery Irish banknotes, and they can be difficult to see clearly. On Irish Ten Pound notes the watermark in the centre, LTN £10 LTN, can be seen quite clearly, as illustrated below.
The watermarks can be seen on this backlit image of a 1944 Irish 10 Pound note, the letters 'LTN' on either side of the denomination '£10' and the Head of Eirin on the right
A Portals Archive watermarked paper sample of the 10 Pound Irish Legal Tender Note [4. noonans.co.uk, 2023, ex-Lot 332]
Each of the Series A Irish banknotes incorporated a range of microscopic security features in the design on the face of the note. These features were in the form of little symbols and asymmetries in the design.
The Irish Ten Pound notes contained four of these security marks, which are illustrated following.
Plate Letters on Irish 10 Pound Notes
In addition to the security marks there was printed a tiny Plate Tracer (PT) code, or plate letters, on the face and reverse of all Irish ten pound notes printed by Waterlow and Sons Ltd. These letters marked the position of each banknote on the sheet of printed notes.
The PT codes disappeared from the notes when De La Rue took over the printing, with the last such code letters appearing on Irish 10 pound notes dated in 1957. The location of the PT codes on the Irish 10 Pound note is illustrated below.
There are 136 dates for the Irish Ten Pound note, from 10.9.28 to 2.12.76. The range of dates includes 16.3.33, the only Lavery 10 pound note date for which an example has never been recorded, and 14.1.60 for which only one example has been recorded.
Generally, 100,000 were printed for each prefix, occasionally with a prefix being split between two dates. Some of these split prefixes resulted in rare dates.
From 9.2.60 onwards, serial numbers were extended to one million notes per prefix. This marked a great increase in the production of Irish 10 pound notes.
There are several rare dates by printage for the Lady Lavery Irish 10 Pound note: 16.3.33, 9.10.41, 6.1.42, 5.10.42, 28.12.43, 16.5.44, 11.12.44, 14.1.60, 5.2.64. Some other dates are scarce.
Two examples of hand numbered Irish 10 Pound notes are recorded, a 1976 note with number 48D 1,000,000 which was saved by a collector from an original block; and a 1952 note with number 52V 100,000 which was saved by a collector in the mid-1990s from a pile of low grade notes which were about to be paid into the bank.
References
1. Auction Catalogue, Noonan's (DNW), London. British, Irish and World Banknotes, 26 Aug 2021.
2. Moynihan, Dr. M. 'Currency and Central Banking in Ireland 1922–1960', Gill & Macmillan and The Central Bank of Ireland, 1975.
3. Image ©Karl Whitney. Riverine keystone head at the Custom House, Dublin, rendered in Portland stone by Edward Smyth, portraying one of the rivers of Ireland - in this case, the Blackwater. (Identified by Harold Leask). https://source.southdublinlibraries.ie/handle/10599/5553/simple-search?filterquery=Custom+House&filtername=subject&filtertype=equals [Last accessed 31.10.23]
4. Auction Catalogue, Noonan's (DNW), London. British and Irish Banknotes, 12 Oct 2023.
1 Pound Ploughman
5 Pounds Ploughman
10 Pounds Ploughman
20 Pounds Ploughman
50 Pounds Ploughman
100 Pounds Ploughman
Irish Ten Shilling Notes
1 Pound Note Lady Lavery
5 Pounds Lady Lavery
10 Pounds Lady Lavery
20 Pounds Lady Lavery
50 Pounds Lady Lavery
100 Pounds Lady Lavery
1 Pound Note, Queen Medb
5 Pound Note, John Scotus Eriugena
10 Pound Note, Jonathan Swift
20 Pound Note, W. B. Yeats
50 Pound Note, Turlough O'Carolan
100 Pound Note, Grace O'Malley
5 Pound Note, Sister Catherine McAuley
10 Pound Note, James Joyce
20 Pound Note, Daniel O'Connell
50 Pound Note, Douglas Hyde
100 Pound Note, Charles Stewart Parnell
Special Sections and Articles
The Transition of Irish Currency, Irish banknotes 1918–1928
The Partition of Irish Currency, Irish banknotes 1928–1930
Banknote Design Evolution 1824 to 1916
Irish Three Pound Notes
Contemporary Forgeries of Early Irish Banknotes, ca1800-1930
Limerick Soviet Notes
Irish World War 2 Banknote Issues
Low Number Irish Banknotes
Irish Joint Stock Banks of Note Issue from 1783
Irish Legal Tender Note Specimens
Ploughman Scan Survey (PSS)
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