This note was issued by National Bank Limited, the design dates from 1937 and is a refreshing and lovely design. Unfortunately, the turmoil in Northern Ireland created opportunity for this note to be commonly defaced because of the of the watermark of Daniel O'Connell, an Irish patriot. I really like the vignette of the young Colleen, with her harp and Irish wolfhound and a ship in the background.
Definitely not the queen, The National Bank Limited was begun by Irish nationalists in 1835, one of the founders was Daniel O'Connell and his image is in the watermark, which explains why most of these notes are now found with an ink X on the watermark area, or even on the Colleen occasionally. These notes were circulated in N. Ireland, where curiously the "troubles" even played out on banknotes. I have seen Ulster Bank notes with the red hand shield on them X'd out.
