Do you know about the banking irony that occurred between Great Britain and Ireland of the middle1600s? The Bank Of England was founded by the Scotsman, William Paterson, in 1694. He proposed a loan of 1.200,000 Pounds English to the government; in return the subscribers would be incorporated as The Governor and Company of the Bank of England with long-term banking privileges including the issue of notes. The Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act of 1694. In 1994 England issued a 2 Pound Coin commemorating the 300 year old event. Here's a photo courtesy of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2POUND1994.jpg Keep reading to discover the Ironic part of this trivia: John Holland, an Englishman, was one of the leading founders of The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland which was officially established by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland on 17 July 1695. A building was soon erected and the Bank opened for business in February 1696 with a capital of 1,200,000 Pounds Scot. In 1995 The Bank of Scotland issued special Banknotes known as the Tercentenary Series as their way of commemorating the three hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the bank. Again we turn to Wikipedia's courtesy in sharing the following photo. There were five separate Banknotes in the series (5, 10, 30, 50 and 100 Pounds). All the Banknotes feature Sir Walter Scott on their obverses. The 50 Pound in the photo features a vignette of arts and culture on its reverse. Different vignettes are featured on the reverses of the other Banknote denominations. Oil and energy adorn the 5 Pound Banknote Distilling and brewing enhance the 10 Pound Banknote Education and research augment the 20 Pound note Leisure and tourism embellish the 100 Pounder Here's that photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BankScotland50.jpg Thought you might enjoy a little numismatic irony... Clinker
Interesting, did not know that the Bank of England was founded by someone from Scotland, and vice versa. Good story. Christian
To chrisild It peaked my interest so I thought others might like to know. Must be other peculiar circumstances related to numismatics I can discover... Clinker
Hi krispy... i Good to read your comment and suggestion, but I would never double-post a "trivia" article. However, if any moderator thinks the article should be somewhere else and moves the article, so be it. Clinker
