Catalog
1 Pound
| Issuer | Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | A typeset emergency issue on cream-coloured paper with a subtle guilloche underprint. The upper portion carries the colony title centred at top, with a serial number in large typeface at left and repeated at upper right; the body text sets out the statutory promise of payment in full, with the denomination stated as ONE POUND flanked on each side by £1. 0s. 0d. in underlined type. The date 1st January, 1942 appears at lower left, while two manuscript signatures accompanied by the titles Acting Resident Commissioner and Treasurer appear at lower right, above an embossed colony seal at centre left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, consisting of plain cream-coloured paper displaying a visible guilloche moiré pattern throughout the sheet, with an embossed dry-seal impression visible at the right of centre. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony issued this note under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Japanese forces occupied the Gilbert Islands in late 1941, and the colonial government — operating from whatever remained of its administrative footing — needed currency to function. This series was a direct wartime emergency measure, not a peacetime printing exercise.
The embossed seal as the primary security feature reflects the stripped-down production conditions of 1942. No intaglio, no watermarked paper from a specialist security printer — just an impressed seal, the kind of authentication a colonial office could apply locally without access to a professional banknote press.
Pick lists only a handful of surviving specimens, and the series has a documented scarcity that predates collector interest.