The imposing vaulted halls of the Bank of England are silent. After all, setting the country’s interest rates and controlling inflation is serious business.
Although the atmosphere is sober, I sense a certain excitement in the air as we move along, labyrinthine hallways with elaborate mosaic floors and mahogany doors that embody solidity and tradition.
I have been granted an exclusive invitation to the inner sanctum of the Bank on Threadneedle Street in the City of London to see the new King Charles III banknotes for the first time and hear the story behind their creation.
In a month, on June 5, they will enter circulation. It will be the culmination of an extraordinary design, logistics and planning effort that began a decade ago.
Debbie Marriott, the bank’s chief note designer and a key figure in this project, calls them “the nation’s calling card.”
Profit: project exemplifies the best of British craftsmanship and technological know-how
The project exemplifies the best of British craftsmanship and technological know-how.
This is the era of contactless payments and our legal tender is printed on polymer, not paper.
But the traditional banknote remains a symbol of continuity and resistance of our currency.
It is also the most viewed piece of public art featuring the monarch. It’s no wonder Marriott, 58, is proud of her work.
She joined the Bank as a junior artist in 1990 and has risen to become the first female designer. Her previous productions include the £20 Turner Bill and her work, she says, is “some of the best in the world”.
The key, he explains, is that the artistic form must fulfill the everyday functions of the currency.
‘It’s not just about making something that is aesthetically pleasing. Banknotes must be protected against counterfeits,” she says.
“It is also necessary that they can be produced millions of times efficiently and that they work in ATMs.
The King’s return to work last week following cancer treatment adds an extra level of importance to the upcoming release.
It also makes my first sight of the banknotes even more emotional. Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, has already presented a set to the King.
Another has been specially removed from a safe at the institution we affectionately refer to as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street for our interview. They are spread out on a table in a bright 1920s room, whose large arched windows would meet the King’s principles for elegant, life-enhancing architecture. Marriott is joined by his main collaborator, Stephen Matthews, 51.
He is head of engraving at De La Rue, the 103-year-old company that prints banknotes for the Bank of England and other central banks around the world. The couple is at the top of their highly specialized profession. His work requires not only artistic talent, but also top-notch attention to detail and diplomacy, for his regular visits to the Palace.
The hand of history has been on their shoulders and their quiet pride is inspiring.
Together they explain the different stages of the process of creating the new £5, £10, £20 and £50 banknotes.
The Bank has been issuing banknotes since the late 17th century. But King Charles will be only the second monarch to appear in them. The first banknote to use a portrait of a monarch was the £1 note which appeared in 1960 with the portrait of the late Queen. Marriott begins the story by showing me the photograph of the King wearing the blue velvet robe of the Order of the Garter on which the new banknote image is based.
“Clarence House gave us the King’s photograph ten years ago,” he says. ‘The photo was not taken by anyone special.
“But of course,” he adds, “the image of the late Queen that appears on the current banknotes was based on a drawing of a photograph taken of her in the 1980s.” In the photograph, the King looks serious and there are visible lines on his face.
She does not wear a crown, which represents a change from the designs in which her late mother wore a diadem.
Featured: Engraver Stephen Matthews, above, works with Marc Delorie on the design and, above, Debbie Marriott, the Bank’s chief banknote designer.
The image was selected because it could be easily accommodated within the layout of the current “family” of notes. The image chosen had to be one that would not have any detrimental effects on security, including transparent windows on the left side of the face of the note that can help verify authenticity.
The Bank team and De La Rue also followed specific instructions from the Palace to minimize the cost of issuing the new banknotes and their environmental impact. Existing notes will only be replaced when they begin to wear out.
It took Matthews four months to convert the photo of the King into the portrait that appears in the notes.
“I draw my images by hand,” he says. “In this case I started with the king’s velvet robe, to have time to learn about his face and understand his features very well.” “I work with banknotes from all nations with their heads of state, but in this case, it was the pressure of being my monarch.”
He hands me a double-headed magnifying glass so I can see the results of these deliberations.
The raised image of the King on the banknotes was hand-engraved in a series of dots and lines that give shape and depth, and can be felt by running your fingers over this part of the banknote.
This technique also makes counterfeiting very difficult.
Matthews, who joined De La Rue as an apprentice, uses centuries-old methods as well as 21st-century graphic design software.
His two apprentices are being taught Photoshop, but they are also learning to cut images out of steel, just as the apprentices did when engraving was invented as an art form in Europe in the 16th century.
The image was only a fundamental piece in the design process.
It is fascinating to study the subtle touches needed to introduce the King’s image into the design.
The image of the facade of the Bank of England next to the monarch has been enlarged.
The shadow on the left side of the King’s face was essential to outline the portrait in the background.
Behind the delay between the king’s ascension to the throne and the arrival of the new banknotes lie questions of practicality rather than beauty.
Marriott says: ‘The first bank notes were printed last year. But they did not enter circulation immediately, as it takes nine months to test them, ensure that the security features worked and that the notes did not interfere with the operation of ATMs and other machines.
“Normally we release a single denomination note, but this time we release four at a time.”
Bank scientists and other experts collaborated in this testing exercise, who seem to have assured that counterfeiting is a decreasing crime.
During the early part of his career, Marriott saw some half-plausible fakes, but he says they have become rare.
The contribution of his design to the war against counterfeiters will be part of his legacy.
Having completed his work on King Charles’s new notes, he retired.
He will continue drawing and painting, but instead of portraits, landscapes.
Contactless payments are convenient, but compared to the hallowed art of “real” money, they are soulless.
Your Majesty will no doubt be delighted to know that I and the rest of your subjects will spend them with great pleasure.
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