Banknotes

A banknote (often known as a bill, paper money, or simply a note) is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued by commercial banks, which were legally required to redeem the notes for legal tender (usually gold or silver coin) when presented to the chief cashier of the originating bank.
These commercial banknotes only traded at face value in the market served by the issuing bank. Commercial banknotes have primarily been replaced by national banknotes issued by central banks.
Gothic vs. OCR-B
The first decimal notes were numbered in “Gothic” style, which later changed to
OCR-B style to enable better machine reading of serial numbers. If (like me), you still have difficulty differentiating between the different types of serial numbering (Gothic vs. OCR-B) the below image is available for you to use to hopefully assist in determining the difference.