The new Irish One Pound Legal Tender Notes first entered circulation on their date of issue, Monday 10 September 1928.
Of the 5 million £1 notes printed with two dates in 1928, by 31 March 1929 £3,213,725 had been issued, and £531,668 redeemed. This left £2,682,052 in Irish one Pound notes in circulation on 1 April 1929 [1. CBIAR].
Illustrated below are specimens of the face of a first issue 1928 Irish one pound note and the reverse of a 1962 Irish one pound note.
In the years after Irish independence in 1922, the question of a consolidation of the currency in the Irish Free State was considered by the new government. After some years it was decided to create a new legal tender currency issue for the state which would replace all currency note issues, then being provided by six of the joint stock banks which had the right of note issue.
The Currency Act, 1927 [2] provided for the establishment of the Currency Commission Ireland and gave it power it to issue a new Irish currency which would have legal tender status, the Saorstat Pound, later termed the A Series Legal Tender Notes. The Currency Commission also took over the management and control of existing currency note issues of the Irish banks. The Consolidated Bank Note issue was created to tidy up the issues of the commercial banks. Consolidated Bank Notes, which became known as the Ploughman notes, circulated alongside the Legal Tender Notes until the end of 1942.
In 1943 the Central bank of Ireland replaced the Currency Commission, and became the sole issuer of banknotes within its jurisdiction of the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland.
The new Irish Pound was divided into 20 shillings, and linked with Sterling which had circulated in Ireland since 1826. The currency Act empowered the Currency Commission to issue Legal Tender notes in seven denominations: 10 Shillings, £1, £5, £10, £20, £50, and £100. This reflected most of the denominations already in use by the commercial banks. The Legal Tender Notes were of a standard design, bearing a portrait on the left which was a female allegory of Ireland.
The designer of the notes, Mr. John Harrison, the Chief Portrait Engraver of Waterlow and Sons Ltd, London used a painting of Hazel Martyn Lavery as a basis for the portrait design on the Irish banknotes. As a result the new series of notes became known as the Lady Lavery series.
The 'Lady Lavery' Series A Irish One Pound note was in use for 48 years, from 1928 to 1976, with the last date being 30.9.76.
When the currency was decimalised in 1969 the £1 note became the lowest denomination banknote as the 10 shilling denomination was discontinued and withdrawn, to be replaced by a 50 pence coin. Irish one pound notes continued in circulation unaffected by decimalisation.
Until the end of the 1960s the vast majority of the banknotes in circulation was comprised of Ten shilling and One Pound notes. Generally there were 100,000 notes per date printed for each of these denominations up to 1950. On Irish one pound notes and 10 shilling notes, with dates from 1951 onwards, the serial numbers were extended to 1,000,000 notes per prefix.
There were dates for all denominations of Irish banknotes which had very low printages. Some of the low printage dates of Irish One pound notes are very rare.
The collector value of an Irish one pound note today depends mainly on its age and condition.
One of the highest price ever paid for a Lavery Irish one pound note in auction was £1,700 plus fees at noonans.co.uk for a pair of war code one pound notes dated 29.10.43 in VF grade, one note with war code Y on it, the other with displaced code G on it. [3. noonans.co.uk, 2016, Lot 494].
The smaller version of the portrait of Lady Lavery was used on the new Irish One Pound note. On the note, the portrait is 53 mm high.
Dimensions of the Irish one pound Note are approximately 151 x 84 mm. This was measured on a note dated 10.9.28, and on a notge dated 30.9.76. Dimensions on different notes can vary by a couple of millimetres.
A medium dark green was chosen for the new Irish one pound notes. It is likely that other colurs were tested for the denomination, though no colour trials are known than those done in the green used for the final design.
Partial proof of the reverse of the Irish One Pound note design which was not adopted, with '£1' printed in the field on the right. A design with the denomination in numerals in the field was used on the £10 note [4. noonans.co.uk, 24 Feb 2022, ex-Lot 421]
Obverse partial die proof, without the underprint, of the Lavery One Pound note for the 1938 Currency Commission Ireland design. [5. dnw.co.uk, 1 Oct 2018, Lot 242]
A 'River mask' taken from the facade of the Custom House in Dublin was selected for the centrepeice of the reverse of the Irish one pound note.
On the Pound note, the mask representing the River Blackwater in Co. Armagh was used. The river spirit is depicted wearing a headdress of a basket of apples on a carpet of fish [6. Moynihan 1975, p. 127].
Left, the engraving of the River Blackwater river mask, taken from the original (right) which adorns the facade above one of the windows on the front of the Custom House in Dublin. [7. Image at right ©Karl Whitney]
Irish one pound notes were issued under all of the design and signature variations for the Series A Legal Tender Notes up to 1976.
A major variation in the design of the Irish one pound note was the incorporation of a Special Identification Marking (SIM) 'War Code' into the printing of the notes during the World War 2 Emergency period. The special marking is sometimes referred to as an Emergency Tracer Overprint (ETO) code, although the code letter used on the notes is not actually an overprint. War code Irish one pound notes bearing the SIM were issued under both Issuing Authorities: Currency Commission Ireland, Type 4 (1941-1942); and Central bank of Ireland, Type 5 (1943-1944).
Eight combinations of war codes were used on the Irish One Pound note denomination.
Letters T, B, P, and V were used for Currency Commission Ireland One Pound notes with dates in 1941 and 1942.
On the Central Bank of Ireland One Pound notes, the letters G, Y, E, and F were used on notes dated in 1943 and 1944.
A rare variety of war code notes exists for war code Ten Shilling notes and war code One Pound notes for specific dates of issue, the displaced code variety, where the last date of a war code letter exists with the previous code letter. These notes had a low printage, and examples of them are very rare.
This displaced code variety occurs on three dates of the Irish 10 Shilling Notes, and four dates of the Irish £1 notes on Type 4 Currency Commission Ireland war code notes and Type 5 Central Bank of Ireland war code notes.
The bilingual text, in Englsh on the left and in Irish on the right at the bottom of each note indicates the link at parity with Sterling.
'One Pound Sterling payable to bearer on demand in London'
'Tá Punt Sterling iníoctha as an nóta so le n-a shealbhóir ar n-a éileamh san do i Lundain' [One Pound Sterling is payable for this note to the bearer on demand in London].
1928–1960 Sterling Promise in the bottom panel of every Lady Lavery series Irish One Pound note
The sterling promise text was discontinued from the design on all Legal tender notes from Type 11, 1961 onwards and replaced by the denomination in words.
1962–1976 Sterling promise replaced on Irish one pound notes by the denomination 'ONE POUND' 'PUNT' in words
All Irish Legal Tender Notes were printed on watermarked paper. The watermark consisted of the Head of Eirin on the bottom right of each note on all denominations, with additional watermarks in the centre of each denomination.
The centre watermarks varied on some denominations, and can be difficult to see. On the Irish one pound notes the denomination of the note in the centre, £1, is seen with the letters LTN (denoting 'Legal Tender Note') above it, as illustrated below.
The watermark of the Head of Eirin can clearly be seen on this illustration of a 1943 Irish One Pound note, the letters 'LTN' above '£1' are not easy to see on the notes as the area is densely printed
A Portals Archive watermarked paper sample of the £1 Irish Legal Tender Note clearly shows the location of the central watermarks in addition to the Head of Eirin [8. noonans.co.uk, 2023, ex-Lot 332]
There are several major design variations which occur on Irish one pound notes.
1. Design 2 Variety 1959-1960
2. Mulberry Serial Variety 1959-1963
3. Emerald Green Variety 1958
As with other denominations, a small percentage of Irish one pound notes printed by Waterlow with dates from 1959 to 1963 have a random inking flaw which results in variably dark date and serial numbers instead of the normally bright red numbers. In some cases the ink variation is very dark and appears to be almost black. Mulberry variety Irish one pound notes are about as scarce as Irish one pound notes with a replacement prefixes (S, 00A). The darker ‘black’ examples of mulberry numbering are quite rare. The mulberry variety is considered to be a major variety amongst Irish banknotes.
Mulberry variety date and serial numbers has been seen on 1959 and 1960 Irish £1 notes of Type 9 (McElligott, Whitaker signature combination), and on Type 11 £1 notes with dates in 1962 and 1963(Muimhneacháin, Whitaker signature combination).
In May 1974 Irish one pound notes which were dated 11.3.63 was issued by the Central Bank of Ireland during a shortage of £1 notes. Many of these notes have been seen with mulberry date and serial numbers, with a similar frequency of occurrence as on other dates of mulberry variety Irish one pound notes. Speculation is that the 01X and 02X prefix one pound notes were a special printing of some kind, most likely column sort notes or star replacement notes which were not then used.
It can be inferred that they were printed, with the date and serial numbers added when other Type 11 notes were printed, as the frequency of the mulberry variation on them is similar to that on the other mulberry Irish £1 notes of this era.
Dark Emerald Green £1 note. All £1 notes dated 31.12.58 are unusually dark green in colour. This shade of emerald green was used only on banknotes of this date, and all the notes of this date are of this colour.
Different plates were used to print Irish one pound notes dated 2.9.59 and 18.5.60.
These two dates are Type 9 notes with the McElligott, Whitaker signature combination, the final two dates of Type 9.
From 1962 onwards, the face of the Irish one pound note reverts to Design 1, in use since 1928, while the reverse of the notes continue to use Design 2.
Each of the Series A banknotes incorporated several tiny security features in their designs on the face of every note. These features were in the form of little symbols and asymmetries in the design.
Irish One Pound notes contained four such security marks, which are illustrated below.
In addition to the security marks there was printed a tiny Plate Tracer (PT) code, or plate letter, on the face and on the reverse of all Irish One Pound notes printed by Waterlow and Sons Ltd. This was a feature of banknotes printed by Waterlow, and is used also on the other Lavery Series A notes, and on banknotes of other countries printed by them.
On the Irish one pound notes these letters are located on the bottom left of the face of each note, and on the bottom left of centre on the reverse. They mark the position of each banknote on the sheet of printed notes, and often occur with symbols in close proximity to the letter.
The PT codes were discontinued on Irish One Pound notes from 1958 onwards, when De La Rue took over the printing. The location of the PT codes is illustrated following.
There are 257 dates for the Lady Lavery Irish One Pound note, from 10.9.28 to 30.9.76.
There are just a few rare dates with low printages for the One Pound note: 3.9.41 and 18.4.50 are the rarest by confirmed sightings in the Lavery Rare Notes Census, with four examples of the former, and just one example of the latter known. Several other dates are rare and seldom offered, the scarcest being 6.6.50 and 11.12.50.
References
1. CBIAR. Central Bank of Ireland Archives. 'Statement of Accounts of the Currency Commission for the Period Ended 31st March 1929'.
2. Currency Act (1927). https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1927/act/32/enacted/en/html?q=currency+act&years=1927 [Last accessed 12.12.24].
3. Auction Catalogue, Noonan's (DNW), London. Paper Money, 11 April 2016.
4. Auction Catalogue, Noonan's (DNW), London. British, Irish and World Banknotes, 24 Feb 2022.
5. Auction Catalogue, Noonan's (DNW), London. British, Irish and World Banknotes, 1 Oct 2018.
6. Moynihan, Dr. M. 'Currency and Central Banking in Ireland 1922–1960', Gill & Macmillan and The Central Bank of Ireland, 1975.
7. 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]
8. Auction Catalogue, Noonan's (DNW), London. British and Irish Banknotes, 12 Oct 2023.
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)
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
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