Catalog
10 Cents
| Issuer | Sarawak Government Treasury |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862-1863 |
| 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 wholly letterpress-printed note in black on plain paper, displaying a multilingual typographic layout without vignette or guilloche ornament. Arabic script runs across the upper portion, Tamil script appears along the left margin, and Chinese script along the right margin, reflecting the polyglot commercial population of Sarawak. The central field carries the English treasury obligation in a plain, utilitarian typeface typical of early colonial emergency currency issues. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | SARAWAK GOVS. TREASURY On Demand Pay Bearer Ten Cents |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 earliest paper money issued in Sarawak, this note predates the formal Brooke Raj banking infrastructure by decades. James Brooke had become Rajah in 1841, but the government treasury only moved to issue fractional paper currency in 1862 — likely driven by a chronic shortage of small copper coin in the bazaars of Kuching.
These are among the rarest surviving pieces of Bornean paper currency. The print run was small, the climate was hostile to paper, and Sarawak remained an extraordinarily remote administration throughout the 1860s. Fewer than a handful of authenticated examples are known to collectors.