Bank of England 10s note Bank of England 10s note The Bank of England 10s note was a banknote of the pound sterling. Ten shillings in pre-decimal money (written 10s or 10/-) was equivalent to half of one pound. The ten-shilling note was the smallest denomination note ever issued by the Bank of England. The note was issued by the Bank of England for the first time in 1928 and continued to be printed until 1969. The note ceased to be legal tender in 1970 and was removed in favour of the fifty pence coin. In the 18th and 19th centuries, banknotes were handwritten or
Legal tender banks authorised to issue bank notes must redeem them on demand for gold (the gold standard). In 1933, the Coinage Act created a specific New Zealand coinage and removed legal tender status from British coins. In the same year the Reserve Bank of New Zealand was established. The bank was given a monopoly on the issue of legal tender. The Reserve Bank also provided a mechanism through which the other issuers of legal tender could phase out their bank notes. These banknotes were convertible into British legal tender on demand at the Reserve Bank and remained so until the 1938