British, Irish and World Banknotes

Perkins, Fairman, & Heath, an advertising note denominated £1, circa 1820, displaying their new ‘Siderographic’ method with several vignettes and the text “Specimen of the plan for preventing the forgery of bank notes submitted to the bankers or the United Kingdom by Perkins, Fairman & Heath, 69 Fleet Street, London”, trimmed at edges, laid down on board, fine and rare £200-£260


Siderography is a mechanical process developed by Jacob Perkins in the early 1800s enabling the unlimited reproduction of engraved steel plates. The process enables the transfer of an impression from a steel plate to a steel cylinder in a rolling press and was the foundation of almost all security printing for almost two centuries.