ten-pound-note-back
Money



Famous people To Appear on American Money
$1 Washington / Great Seal of USA
$2 Jefferson / Signers of Declaration
$5 Lincoln / Lincoln Memorial
$10 Hamilton / US Treasury
$20 Jackson / White House
$50 Grant / U.S Capitol
$100 Franklin / Independence Hall
$500 McKinley / Ornate Design
$1000 Cleveland / Ornate Design
$5000 Madison / Ornate Design
$10000 Chase / Ornate Design
$100000 Wilson / Ornate Design
Farthing = 1/4d
Half penny = 1/2d
Penny = £1/240 = 1/12s = 1d
Threepence = 3 pence
Sixpence = £1/40 = 1/2s = 6 pence
Shilling = £1/20 = 1s = 12d
Florin = £1/10 = 2s =24d
Half crown = £1/8 = 2s 6d =30d
Half sovereign = £1/2 = 10s
Sovereign £1 Basic monetary unit = 20s
Ten shillings = £1/2 = 10s
Pound £1 Basic monetary unit = 20s
Five pounds = £5 = 100s
Ten Pounds = £10
Twenty Pounds = £20
Fifty Pounds = £50
One Hundred Pounds = £100
Five Hundred Pounds = £500
One Thousand Pounds = £1,000

1915-1917

Although bank notes had been used in Napoleonic times, 1915 saw the start of the permanent change from gold coin to paper money. The crown was also no longer issued for general circulation, although small numbers would continue to be minted for special purposes. Ten shilling and one pound notes of this period were issued by The Treasury, not the Bank of England.

The 'Titan' is the Bank of England's largest value note at £100, 000,000. It is restricted to use as a transfer of money between banks.

Bank of England Acts 1708-09 - Prohibition of companies or partnerships of more than six people to set up banks and issue notes, preventing smaller banks from printing their own money.

Country Bankers Act 1826 - relaxed some of the laws of the 1709 act by allowing joint-stock banks with more than 6 partners to issue bank notes. This Act also allowed the Bank of England to open branches in major provincial cities, enabling better distribution for its notes.

Bank Notes Act 1833 - Gave Bank of England notes official status as "legal tender" for all sums above £5 in England and Wales to guarantee public confidence in the notes even in the event of a gold shortage.

Bank Charter Act 1844 - The Act which effectively gave the Bank of England complete control over the issue of Banknotes.

Bank Closure 1908 - The north and South Wales Bank loses it's right to issue bank notes after it's takeover by the Midland Bank.

Bank Closure 1921 - Tha last private Bank in England, Fox, Fowler and Company loses it's right to issue banknotes after it's takeover by Lloyds Bank.

Currency and Banknotes Act 1954 - Extended the Bank Notes Act 1833 to make Bank of England notes under £5 in value legal tender; act also applied to Scotland, making English £10 and £1 legal tender for the first time. Bank of England withdrew low-denomination notes in 1969 and 1988, removing legal tender from Scotland.

1945-1960

Paper money in denominations above five pounds ceased to be legal tender in 1945.
The American $1 bill. It has a host of nicknames such as Buck, Greenback and Single.
The UK Royal Mint is situated at Llantrisant in South Wales.
U.S. Mint was originated in 1792.The United States Mint operates six facilities across the United States with each facility performing unique functions. Current facilities are located in: Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; West Point, NY; Fort Knox, KY; Denver, CO; and San Francisco, CA.

1918-1942

By 1917, the change to paper money was complete, although gold sovereigns were still issued outside the UK. Gold coins would still be struck as proof sets, but were not used in general circulation. The Bank of England took over the issue of ten shilling and one pound notes in 1928. Britain left the Gold Standard in 1931 and, since that date it has not been possible to covert paper money to gold coin at its face value.

Quick Facts on Money
Paper Money Invented by the Chinese
Highest Denomination Note 100 Quintillion Pengo (Hungary)
Highest Denomination Polymer Banknote  
Lowest Denomination  
No Denomination  
1/2 Pence Piece Went out of circulation in 1983.
Largest Banknote  
Oldest Banknote  
   
   
£1 coin Came into circulation in 1983.
Farthing Went out of circulation in 1960.
   
   
World's Largest Coin Made by the Royal Canadian Mint it is over half a metre wide and weighs 100kg.
World's Smallest Coin Tara of Vijayanagar - 4mm diameter and weighs just 0.06 g.
World's Most Expensive Banknote Grand Watermelon (Dec 2006)
Motto 'In God we trust' First used on American paper notes in 1957.
   
   
   
   

1943-1945

The twelve-sided nickel brass threepence replaced the silver threepence in 1942, although some silver coins were minted for outside the UK in 1943 and 1944.

1960-1969

Production of farthings ceased in 1956, when inflation had rendered them practically worthless. They were withdrawn completely in 1960.

1969-1970

A decision to decimalise the currency had been taken in 1965. As part of the preparation for this, and because inflation was also taking its toll of the value, the half penny was withdrawn in 1969. A further preparation was the introduction of the five pence piece and the ten pence piece in 1968. These were identical in size and weight to the shilling and the florin respectively, and were used in their place.

1970-1971

The final stage in the preparation for decimalisation was the withdrawal of the half crown in 1970. In the same year, a twenty pound note was issued.

1690: Colonial Notes In the early days of this nation, before and just after the American Revolution, Americans used English, Spanish, and French currencies. The Massachusetts Bay Colony issued the first paper money in the colonies that would later form the United States.
1775: Continental Currency American colonists issued paper currency for the Continental Congress to finance the Revolutionary War. The notes were backed by the “anticipation” of tax revenues. Without solid backing and because they were easily counterfeited, the notes quickly became devalued, giving rise to the phrase “not worth a Continental.”
1781: The Nation's First Bank The Continental Congress chartered the Bank of North America in Philadelphia as the nation's first “real” bank to give further financial support to the Revolutionary War.
1785: The Dollar The Continental Congress adopted the dollar as the unit for national currency. At that time, private bank-note companies printed a variety of notes.
1789: After adoption of the Constitution in 1789, Congress chartered the First Bank of the United States and authorized it to issue paper bank notes to eliminate confusion and simplify trade. The bank served as the U.S. Treasury's fiscal agent, thus performing the first central bank functions.
1792: U.S. Mint The Federal Monetary System was established with the creation of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The first American coins were struck in 1793.
1816: Second U.S. Bank The Second Bank of the U.S. was granted a 20-year charter.
1836: State Bank Notes With minimum regulation, a proliferation of 1,600 state-chartered, private banks issued paper money. State bank notes, with over 30,000 varieties of color and design, were easily counterfeited, which combined with bank failures to cause confusion and circulation problems.
1861: Civil War On the brink of bankruptcy and pressed to finance the Civil War, Congress authorized the United States Treasury to issue paper money for the first time in the form of non-interest bearing Treasury Notes called Demand Notes.
1862: Greenbacks Demand Notes were replaced by United States Notes. Commonly called “greenbacks” because of the green tint introduced to discourage photographic counterfeiting, they were last issued in 1971. The Secretary of the Treasury was empowered by Congress to have notes engraved and printed by private bank note companies. The notes were signed and affixed with seals by six Treasury Department employees.
1863: the Design The design of U.S. currency incorporated a Treasury seal, the fine-line engraving necessary for the difficult-to-counterfeit intaglio printing, intricate geometric lathe work patterns, and distinctive cotton and linen paper with embedded red and blue fibers.
1865: Gold Certificates were issued by the Department of the Treasury against gold coin and bullion deposits and were circulated until 1933. Secret Service The Department of the Treasury established the United States Secret Service to control counterfeiting. At that time, one-third of all circulating currency was estimated to be counterfeit.
1866: National Bank Notes National Bank Notes, backed by U.S. government securities, became predominant. By this time, 75 percent of bank deposits were held by nationally chartered banks. As State Bank Notes were replaced, the value of currency stabilized for a time.
1877: Bureau of Engraving and Printing The Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing started printing all U.S. currency.
1878: Silver Certificates The Department of the Treasury was authorized to issue Silver Certificates in exchange for silver dollars. The last issue was in the Series 1957.
1913: Federal Reserve Act After the 1893 and 1907 financial panics, the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was passed. It created the Federal Reserve System as the nation's central bank to regulate the flow of money and credit for economic stability and growth. The System was authorized to issue Federal Reserve Notes. Now the only U.S. currency produced, Federal Reserve Notes represent 99 percent of all currency in circulation.
1929: Standardized Design Currency was reduced in size by 25 percent, and a consistent design was introduced with uniform portraits on the front and emblems and monuments on the back.
1957: In God We Trust Paper currency was first issued with the inscription “In God We Trust” in 1957. The inscription appears on all currency Series 1963 and later.
1990: Security Thread and Microprinting A security thread and microprinting were introduced to deter counterfeiting by advanced copiers and printers. The features first appeared in Series 1990 $100, $50 and the $20 notes. By Series 1993, the features appeared in all denominations except $1 notes.
1994: Currency Redesign The Secretary of the Treasury announced that U.S. currency would be redesigned to incorporate a new series of counterfeit deterrents. The newly designed $100 was introduced in 1996, the $50 in 1997, and the $20 in 1998. The new $50 was the first to incorporate a low-vision feature, a large dark numeral on a light background on the lower right corner of the back, to help people with low vision identify the denomination.
1998: 50 State Quarters Program Act The program is scheduled to run from 1999 until 2008, with five new quarters released every year over ten years. The 50 new quarters will feature a design that honors each state's unique history and tradition. The quarters are being released in the order that the states joined the union.
2000: Redesign of $5 and $10 bills The U.S. Treasury introduced redesigned $5 and $10 bills to make counterfeiting more difficult. The new notes feature oversized pictures of Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton that are slightly off-center. Other anti-counterfeiting measures include watermarks that can be seen under a light, security threads that glow when exposed to ultraviolet light and tiny printing that’s visible with the help of a magnifying glass. The $100, $50 and the $20 bill underwent similar makeovers in 1996, 1997 and 1998, respectively.
The back of a current £10 note featuring Charles Darwin.
$1-US-Bill