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| British banknote prefix information |
INTRODUCTION
| The Banknote Prefix Sightings Area of the British Notes website is a special area that we invite you to |
| participate. With your valued help we can build an on-line catalogue of known banknote prefix sightings |
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First Prefix, Last Prefix, Replacement Notes, Column Sorts, Error Banknotes, etc...
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| If at anytime whilst referring to these pages you wish to contribute with any updates |
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| Email pam@britishnotes.co.uk or Phone 0208 641 3224 |
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| Scans please 200 or 300 jpg |
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Please use ENGLISH PAPER MONEY, PAPER MONEY of IRELAND or PICK CATALOGUE numbers
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Replacement Banknotes
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| When the uncut sheets of notes are being checked, faulty sheets are removed. To maintain the |
| numeracy of the stack these are replaced with perfect sheet of notes. These replacement sheets are |
| numbered separately, usually with an M prefix (LL prefix in modern times), in earlier years the prefix A, |
| S--S, T--D, etc, were used. The top left corner note of the first normal sheet would be numbered eg., |
| BC42 000001, the second note would be BC43 000001, etc., the sheet below would be numbered |
| BC42 000002, the second note being BC43 000002, so when a stack of 100 sheets is guillotined, |
| each bundle of 100 notes is numbered down the bundle 1 to 100. If a sheet has been removed, it |
| would have been replaced with an M or LL prefix sheet, thus maintaining the numeracy of the stack |
Z Replacement Banknote from Jersey
Column Sort Banknotes
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| De la Rue, the Bank of England printers, like everyone else, is trying to save money. So, when |
| part faulty sheets are removed from the stack, they are set aside. The errors on the sheets would |
| have been marked with a yellow / orange phosphorescent pen. The sheets would then be guillotined |
| into columns, the good columns sorted out for individual guillotining and numbering. Hence the |
| prefix / serials on column sorts are usually in a higher range. i.e., regular note A35 000001 to |
| A35 800000. Column Sorts A35 900001 to A35 999999 |
Column Sort Banknote
Treasury Control Banknotes
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Control banknotes are found at the bottom right hand corner of the sheet and were probably
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| used for accounting purposes, though, this has yet to be confirmed. They always carry the prefix Z |
| The rest of the sheet being a regular prefix |
Bradbury Control banknote Z/1
Break Number / Split Prefix
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| Break Numbers / Split Prefixes occur when there is a signature change in the middle of a prefix. |
| i.e. signature 'A' up to GE 500000 signature 'B' after GE 500001 |
1999 Grant / Mathewson AB prefix to serial 400000
2003 Mitchell AB prefix from serial 400001
Serial Types
Ladder serial 012345 or 987654 etc
Solid serial 777777
Low serial 000005 on a Special Prefix banknote
Million serial 1000000, last nought hand set
Radar serial 761167
Word prefix Soil (Toil - Lion - Dior etc)
Notches on White Banknotes
| In order to prevent banknotes being printed on the wrong watermarked paper, Portals created |
| a simple solution. As the sheet of paper was moulded, a small notch was formed on the right |
| hand edge (top corner for the £5 note) at a specific point for each denomination. This ensured |
| the banknotes were printed on the correct watermarked paper. |
| A sheet of paper created a pair of notes, thus, the left hand note has a cut / straight right hand |
| edge and three deckled edges, at top, bottom and left. The right hand note has a cut / straight |
| left hand edge and three deckled edges, at top, bottom and right - the right hand with the |
| left hand edge and three deckled |
| The right hand edges of the notes shown above in order of denomination: £5, £10, £20, £50, £100. |
| The notches appear on the right hand edge only, which is always deckled. £5 note notches are in |
| the form of the top right corner removed. |
| For further reading :- Promises to Pay page 98. |
| This method also utilised on the £200, £500 and £1000 notes. |
| The £200 notch is between the £20 and £50 notch. |
| The £500 notch is between the £10 and £20 notch. |
| The £1000 notch is between the £5 and £10 notch. |
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