“Bank Restriction Notice”

George Cruikshank

“Bank Restriction Notice”

William Hone

January 1819

Broadside, published and sold with "Bank Restriction Barometer."

Britain replaced gold with paper currency in 1797. Bank notes were issued in small denominations and easily forged. To pass a forged 1£ note, innocently or not, resulted in the death penalty. Cruikshank later called this etching his most important work claiming that it led to the abolition of the death penalty for knowingly or unknowingly passing a fake one pound note.

Source: Original Drawings by Isaac, Robert and George Cruikshank. Collector's Album. Ex Libris. Adolph Zucker.

From the collection of Josephine Lea Iselin.