Hasta La Ideas

While it’s unlikely we’ll ever see portraits of industrial designers gracing any country’s currency, the UK is at least presenting Industrial Revolutionaries: On Friday the Bank of England announced a new design for 50-pound bills featuring dual portraits of James Watt and Matthew Boulton.

Watt famously updated the design of the steam engine in the 1760s. The Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer observed that nearly three-quarters of the potential energy was wasted by existing steam engines and introduced a more efficient design but, as will be familiar to many an upstart designer, his concept couldn’t get anywhere without the necessary bread.

Entrepreneur Boulton nutted up the cash, and the resultant Boulton & Watt steam engines helped mechanize factories and kickstarted Britain’s Industrial Revolution.

It was only by working together that the inventor and the money man were able to effect this radical change, and thus this 50-pound note is the UK’s first to feature two portraits on it. Look for it—if you’re in a line of work where you’re carrying around 50-pound notes, that is—starting November 2nd.

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