Explanations of Terms Used - Pam West British Bank Notes

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Explanations of Terms Used

The Banknote explanations on this page refer to types of notes that can be found

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

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

Control banknotes are found at the bottom right hand corner of the sheet and were probably

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 Note Z/1

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