Catalog
10 Dollars
| Issuer | Government of British Honduras |
|---|---|
| Year | 1894 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Purple intaglio print over a yellow guilloche underprint. An ornate rectangular frame is bordered by floral vignettes at each corner. The central text panel carries the promise-to-pay legend on behalf of the Commissioners of Currency for the Government of British Honduras. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
British Honduras issued this series under direct colonial authority — not through a chartered bank — which was unusual for the region at the time. The Government of British Honduras had been printing its own notes since the early 1890s rather than relying on the private banking institutions common elsewhere in the Caribbean, a decision driven partly by the thin commercial banking presence in the colony and partly by a desire to control currency supply during a period of chronic fiscal instability tied to the mahogany trade.
De La Rue produced the plates in London. At the ten-dollar denomination, surviving examples from this 1894 issue are genuinely rare — most colonial high-value notes of this period saw limited release and were frequently recalled and destroyed rather than worn out in trade.