Steel Engraved Specimen Banknote- Perkins, Fairman, & Heath

Specimen banknote printed by the company Perkins Fairman & Heath. This engraving was produced using steel hardened plates which could print immensely large numbers of identical banknotes. Previously printing had been achieved using copper plates but these only allowed a few thousand impressions by which time the plate would be worn out. As such, printing banknotes from copper plates was very limited. Steel hardened plates not only lasted longer but extra steel plates could be made from one original steel plate. Thus the quantity of identical banknotes that could be printed was almost unlimited. This object the very first steel engraved specimen banknote to be printed and was produced in pursuit of a contract with the bank of England. The engraving was presumably done by Charles Heath and his fellow engravers. While the Bank of England decided not to award a contract, many other banks did and the firm prospered printing banknotes.