Banknote worth £100m displayed at Bank of England

A £100 million note is going on show at the Bank of England.It forms part of an exhibition of items from the Bank’s vast collection.

Other highlights on display at the Bank Of England Museum include the earliest note with a woman – Elizabeth Head – as a payee. Dating from 1702, it is for £40, the equivalent of around £9,200 today. But the £100 million note is for “internal accounting purposes at the Bank, never for circulation”.

One of its uses “is to represent sums held at the Bank on behalf of other UK note issuers, like the Scottish and Northern Irish issuing banks”, the museum said.

“This is held as backing for the notes those banks issue – an assurance that those banks can honour the face value of their banknotes.”

The Bank of England is marking 325 years since its foundation, in 1694.

The free exhibition, 325 Years, 325 Objects, opens on Monday and runs until May 15 next year at the Bank of England Museum on Threadneedle Street, London.