Will the non-royal part of banknotes change on King Charles banknotes?

[NY]

When the Bank of England changes over from printing Queen Elizabeth II to printing King Charles III banknotes, I understand that the head will face in the opposite direction, as is a long-standing tradition whenever there is a change of monarch, both for notes and coins.

But will the colour, design and non-royal person who is commemorated on the reverse of each note change, or will we continue to have Winston Churchill on the green £5, Jane Austen on the brown £10 and Adam Smith on the purple £20?

Or has that information not been revealed yet by the BoE?

[NY]

Correction: I'm out of date - the polymer £20 note has J M W Turner (artist), not Adam Smith (economist).

[Colin Bignell]

I would expect them to take the opportunity to do a complete re-design. If they are going to issue new notes it would make sense not to reuse part that potential forgers have had time to study.

[Chris Hogg]

Dunno about notes, but in the past with postage stamps the new monarch's head simple appeared in place of the previous monarch. I think the 'head' was printed separately to the rest of the design. which was left with a space for the head to be printed later.

[Tricky Dicky]

I believe it is only on coins that the head is reversed.

Richard

[Robin]

There's no precedent for BoE notes: EIIR was the first monarch on one.

[NY]

I've never seen a pre-Elizabeth bank note. The white fivers had disappeared from circulation by the time I can remember money. I'd not realised that Elizabeth was the first UK monarch to have her picture on a note: I assumed that even the white fivers had a picture of Edward VI, George V or George VI. I see that the £20 note was phased out at one stage, and only re-introduced in 1970.

I've only seen a £50 note on one occasion and that's when I sold a car. I got the guy to go with me to the bank so they could check all the notes and pay them into my account there and then.

[Colin Bignell]

At one time, all printed banknotes were white, but the fiver is best known as it lasted longest. Two sided fivers came in from 1957. The white ones were a bit too easy to forge, even with the metal thread security feature added after the war.

I'd not

They had a picture of Britannia instead.

I see that the £20 note was phased out at one

Denominations have come and gone over the years. I think the largest note in general circulation was once £100. Treasury notes, used internally in the Bank of England, have been issued with values of up to £10 million.

[charles]

It is possible that printing techniqies have changed in the last 70 years.

[SteveW]

£100m I think. Held by the Scottish banks to back the issue of their own notes, which would otherwise have no guarantee behind them.

[Andrew]

There are already some dodgy £5 polymer notes doing the rounds so I suspect a replacement will be ready for the Coronation.

[Max Demian]

What about the stamps?

I heard that people used to sign the back of the white fivers before parting with them. Is this true, and what was the significance of this?

[Andy Burns]

I've seen plenty at racecourses, but never "owned" one.

I know that white fivers were quite minimal looking.

[Adrian Caspersz]

OT, but found this youtube interesting about other notes issued in the UK, never mind about the headline Titans. Skip to 6:48 for many of the other interesting non-royal designs, and smatterings of legal tender civil war...

The Complex Reason £100 Million Notes Exist

[Colin Bignell]

When travelling, I used to have a money belt, which looked like an ordinary leather belt, but had a zipped compartment on the back of the belt. It would neatly hold 2 x £50 notes and 1 x EUR100 note. These days cash is less important, so I simply keep a spare bit of plastic, separate from my main wallet.

[Cursitor Doom]

Yes, but I'd confidently expect them to continue to use itaglio process sections on new notes for the foreseeable future as they're so hard to forge convincingly.

[Cursitor Doom]

Well, bills of exchage were commonly indorsed in this way going back over a hundred years, usually to assign a bill to someone else specifically or to bearer. But why anyone would need to sign a banknote is beyond me, since ownership is passed by simple delivery only. I think what you heard was wrong, or perhaps you mis-heard it. If you really want to know, the answer can be found by reading the Bills of Exchange Act 1882. I'm sure it's available on line somewhere as it was a key piece of legislation and still has much effect even today.

[Colin Bignell]

On 15/09/2022 12:12, Max Demian wrote: ..

Nobody has signed the back of the one I have.

[Brian Gaff]

I'm not aware of any decision on that. I imagine the colours and tactile dots will remain the same, although the latter are starting to flatten as they get squashed in the cash machines. Maybe more dots along the not might be better.

Brian

[Cursitor Doom]

When I was in living in Germany I'd sometimes carry as much as 50k around in 500 euro notes in a camera bag. And that was quite a few years ago now. Currently I've got about 10k in 50 pound notes that I'm trying to squander before the end of the month deadline to pay them in or spend them. After the 30th, they're no longer legal tender.