Turner on the Twenty, Replacing Adam Smith
As reported several weeks ago by Simon Read for BBC News (20 February 2020) . . .
You’ll soon no longer find Adam Smith in your wallet or purse. The economist has been replaced as the face of the £20 note by artist JMW Turner. . . . It includes two see-through windows and a two colour foil to help beat forgers. . . . The new £20 is the third plastic banknote to be issued by the Bank of England after the fiver featuring Winston Churchill—launched in 2016—and the tenner featuring Jane Austen, which was first issued in 2017. It replaces the paper one featuring Adam Smith which has been in circulation since 2007.
The portrait is based on Turner’s ca. 1799 Self-Portrait now part of the Tate Collection.
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