To:                 Messrs Perkins & Heath, Engravers, Fleet Street, London

From:             William Brown, Aberdeen

Dated:            16th June 1825.

Gentlemen,

    On Saturday evening we at length rec'd the first parcel of our £1 Notes - which in point of execution gave great satisfaction.  I anticipated an equal satisfaction in the arrival of the large Notes.  5,000 of the £20 have this evening made their appearance, and I need not tell you who have seen them the dissatisfaction that was felt on them being opened up.  You must be aware that the vignette on the right hand side is a total failure - and that in place of being like a new steel plate - they are like the impressions from a Copper plate after it had given off 100,000 copies. - Several of the Directors who were anxiously looking for them have seen them, & agree in thinking that nothing but the emergency of the case have induced them to issue them - I am desired by them to say so - & to say that it is not the vignette alone which they think discreditable - but the execution of other parts of the note - the middle piece of the scroll & the initials - the Y in the lower most "Twenty" (in the die) - & the whole note - the back plate excepted - has a black and unsightly appearance.  It is hardly to be expected but that the £5 plate will be the same.  It is really a hard case - the Directors (those that have seen them) say that they expect you will give them a new plate, as the present is one that I am never to you or them credit.

    I am surprised that you have not written giving some account of the cause of such a misfortune.

    Expecting to hear from you.

    I am,

          Gentlemen,

                Your very obedient servant.

                         William Brown.

I am afraid Mr Bacon is ill that I have never heard from him since my return.

It is also interesting to note that despite the Directors anticipating a sharp image using the "new" Steel Plates they were very disappointed and likened the images to those of a worn Copper Plate.

The reference to the "emergency of the case" is likely a consequence of the Aberdeen Town & County Banking Company opening for business on 15th June 1825 and this letter being dated the following day.  To have established a Bank - to be built on the reputation of the Gentlemen of Aberdeen - and then not to have notes to issue would perhaps cause some embarrassment.

In the history of the North of Scotland Bank (which in 1908 merged with the Town & County Bank Limited to form the North of Scotland Town & County Bank Limited) it is suggested that the reference in the banknotes to "Promise to pay John Smith or the Bearer" was "impish" and that co-incidence resulted in the First Teller actually being named John Smith.  This seems improbable although the Aberdeen Town & County Banking Company had appointed Alexander Mitchell as their Cashier.  It seems unlikely therefore that - other than by "impish" design - that banknotes would be printed with the First Teller's name in place of the Cashier.

I regret that I currently cannot identify William Brown who signed this letter and presume him to be one of the founding Partners.