Do you know that banknotes bearing the image of England's famed composer Sir Edward Elgar will be withdrawn from circulation at the end of June. The composer of the Pomp and Circumstance Marches has adorned the £20 note since 22 June 1999, but the Elgar note will cease to be legal tender after June 30. The Elgar notes are being withdrawn under authority given to the Bank by virtue of Section 1 (5) of the Currency and Banknotes Act 1954.n to the Bank by virtue of Section 1 (5) of the Currency and Banknotes Act 1954.
From 1 July 2010, only notes with the image of Adam Smith, the Scottish economist, will be legal tender. These notes came into circulation in 13 March 2007. The Adam Smith note is a brighter purple colour, with security features including a larger silver hologram and metallic thread recognition strip to combat fraudsters and a new colour tag which shows bright red and green under an ultraviolet light.
There are currently around 1.5 billion £20 notes in circulation (£30 billion), of which around 150 million (£3 billion) are Elgar notes. The £20 note is the UK's most common banknote and most subject to forgery. According to the Bank's figures, 675,000 counterfeit notes were withdrawn from circulation in 2008. Elgar note also features part of Worcester Cathedral to mark the city where he spent most of his life, and the venue where the first full performance of his Enigma Variations took place in 1899.
After June 30 if a bank or building society refuses to swap a note, consumers have the right to swap the notes at the Bank of England itself. The Bank promises that it will honour the face value of any note issued, even notes from before the Second World War. Old notes will eventually be sent to one of the official Government incinerators, where they will burned alongside damaged notes. A small amount of thermoelectric power is generated by these sites, which also burn illegal tobacco seized by HM Revenue & Customs at British ports.
Source: Associated Press, Telegraph.co.uk, Bank of England.
Related Posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment