I withdrew money from an ATM yesterday near Stirling. The cash was all in Scottish Bank notes.
Since these were crisp new bills, I wanted to see if the King was pictured on them. Apparently, Scottish Bank notes don't display the sovereign. I can see why someone in England would be suspect of these being fraudulent.
You do get some very pretty notes issued by Scottish banks though.
I don't think there's any requirement for a monarch to be pictured on banknotes like there is on coins. I'm not sure how many people over here would make the connection between the lack of the King's picture and fraud. The "why are Scottish notes refused in England sometimes?" question is a whole different discussion.
The ones I received have pictures of Kate Cranston, Robert Burns, red squirrels, and Edinburgh Castle. They certainly are beautiful. And different from the Bank of England notes.
It may seem like it was always there but the monarch has only appeared on Bank of England notes since 1960. On the other hand George II, III, & IV all appeared on Royal Bank of Scotland notes in the 18th-19th century.
Sounds like a mixture of RBS and the increasingly rare Clydesdale Bank notes.
The issue is generally unfamiliarity with them and the security, despite the fact that the security of the Scottish, NI, and BofE notes is the same now they are all polymer.
RBS ones are all women on the face side, animals on the reverse
BofS all have Sir Walter Scott on them and bridges.
Clydesdale a mix of people, but always seem to have Robert Burns and King Robert I (The Bruce) with buildings on the back.
