Million pound note dream come true for film fan DAY BEFORE
DEALER LEFT IN CHARGE OF NOTE FOR ITS SALE
FOR 24 hours Tyneside businessman David McMonagle was the man with the million pound note.
David, who runs Corbitts Ltd, the Newcastle dealers, auctioneers and valuers of stamps, coins, medals, and banknotes, was in charge of the note issued by the Treasury.
It was the cinema come to life for David, whose favourite film when younger was the 1954 movie The Million Pound Note, starring Gregory Peck.
The note delivered to David in Newcastle was issued on August 30, 1948, in connection with the Marshall Plan programme of funding by the United States to help Western European nations rebuild their economies following the devastation of the Second World War.
The vendor had bought a portfolio of banknotes, stamps and coins, which also contained the million pound item.
David was asked to sell the note, which he has done to an avid collector who wishes to remain anonymous and at a price which is undisclosed.
The green-printed note, signed by Secretary to the
Treasury E E Bridges, and issued on Bank of England paper, states: “This Treasury note entitles the Bank of England to payment of one million pounds on demand out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom”.
David said: “It is an iconic note and you have to be in awe of it.”
The note, stamped cancelled, is number seven of nine but only number eight is also known to be in existence.
It is thought that all very high value notes at the time were later destroyed apart from a couple of million pound notes which were presented to the British and American Treasury secretaries.
The notes were used internally as “records of movement” for a six-week period, along with other denominations, with a total face value of £300million, corresponding to a loan from the US to help shore up the UK Treasury.
Note number eight was auctioned recently for £69,000.
Under the Marshall Plan aid was distributed to 16 European nations, including Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany and Norway.
Britain received roughly a quarter of the total aid provided under the Marshall Plan.
The 1954 film is based on Mark Twain’s 1893 short story The Million Pound Bank Note. It follows Gregory Peck as American seaman Henry Adams who is stranded penniless in England and is caught up in a bet between two wealthy, eccentric brothers.
They arrange for the Bank of England to issue a million pound note and give it to Adams in an envelope.