Description and research notes
This 1929 Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound proof belongs to the Northern Ireland Issue design group cataloged as Pick 306p. PMG identifies the note as a proof, graded PMG 55 EPQ About Uncirculated, with specimen perforation and selvage included. It is a proof-stage banknote prepared before ordinary issue completion, with no serial number, no issuing date, and no officer signatures applied to the obligation panel.
The design retains the full engraved structure of the Ulster Bank Limited 1 Pound note. The upper border names Ulster Bank Limited, while the central vignette shows a maritime and industrial scene beneath the curved Northern Ireland Issue title. The promise-to-pay text remains open and uncompleted, reading as a bank obligation but lacking the final administrative elements required for circulation. The large ornamental denomination cartouches, Belfast panel, and engraved borderwork show the completed visual language of the issue, while the absence of serials, date, and signatures keeps the object within the proof stage.
The specimen perforation is a key production feature. It marks the note as non-payable while preserving the design in finished printed form, allowing the piece to function as a controlled proof reference rather than a circulation note. The included selvage is also significant, because it preserves part of the sheet margin normally lost when single notes are fully separated. Together, the perforation and selvage retain evidence of the production environment around the note, not only the printed design itself.
The paper is Westminster Bank Limited watermarked security paper, visible through the reverse under light. That watermark places the proof within the specialized banknote paper supply used for this proof material and gives the object an additional technical layer beyond the printed face. The survival of a single proof with this watermark, specimen perforation, and sheet-edge selvage makes it a particularly informative example of Ulster Bank Limited proof production.
Although the PMG label uses the Ireland - Northern convention, this catalog keeps the country category as Ireland while describing the Northern Ireland Issue context in the title and description. Ulster Bank Limited belonged to the private banknote tradition of Ireland and Northern Ireland, where commercial banks continued to issue their own notes under regulated authority. PMG records only one graded example for Pick 306p, and this PMG 55 EPQ About Uncirculated proof is that sole recorded example, supporting its classification as an R9 Extremely Rare proof survivor.