Rare £1 Bolton Bank note produced around 1820 could make £1,000 (From This Is Lancashire)

Rare £1 Bolton Bank note produced around 1820 could make £1,000

10:00am Tuesday 29th September 2009 in

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A RELIC from a time when Bolton had its own banknotes is expected to sell for more than £1,000 at auction.

The words printed on the face of the note say it is only worth £1, but that is unlikely to stop a collector parting with a large amount of cash for it when it goes under the hammer in London today.

The proof note was printed in about 1820, and would have been used to create banknotes for circulation in Bolton. At the time it was common for regional towns such as Bolton to have their own currency, which could only be used locally. The Bolton banknote proof shows the names of the five Bolton businessmen who founded the Bolton Bank — Hardcastle, Cross, Ormrod, Barlow and Rushton.

Banknote expert Barnaby Faull, from auctioneers Spink, says he has only seen three such proofs in the 25 years he has worked in the business, and he has never seen an actual note.

He said: “It’s rare, and this is a rather nice looking one, which is rare in itself. There are some of these about, but a lot of them are not in very good condition. This one is in excellent condition, which makes it very attractive.”

Mr Faull added: “All sorts of people will be interested in this, and not just locally. The biggest collectors are in the Channel Islands, but there are also people in Hong Kong and Malaysia. I’d like to see it go to someone locally — it should go home.”

The Bolton Bank existed between 1818 and 1879, before becoming part of the Manchester and Salford Bank.

It later became part of Williams and Glyn’s Bank, which was eventually taken over by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Similar specialist currency measures are still used today to help boost local economies in the recession. Brixton, in London, for example, has recently introduced the Brixton Pound to help keep money in the area.