Catalog
10 Dollars Government Issue
| Issuer | Government of British Guiana |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Dollars |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH GUIANA GEORGETOWN. 1st. JANUARY, 1942 PROMISES TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF TEN DOLLARS WATERLOW & SONS LIMITED, LONDON |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in dark grey, the reverse is anchored by a central oval medallion bearing an intaglio facing portrait of King George VI in military uniform with decorations, set within an elaborate acanthus and scroll surround. Dense lathe-work guilloche panels fill the left and right fields, each incorporating the numeral 10 within a florid cartouche. |
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| Comments |
British Guiana's wartime currency issues were a direct consequence of London's concern that German or Japanese forces might capture Caribbean and South American territories and exploit local banknote stocks. The Government of British Guiana — rather than a chartered bank — assumed direct issuing authority for this series, an unusual arrangement driven by wartime administrative consolidation across British colonial territories.
Waterlow & Sons had been printing colonial currency since the Victorian period, and their wartime output held to prewar production standards despite material shortages elsewhere in the British printing industry. Pick 15 is among the scarcer denominations from this issue; the $10 face value meant limited day-to-day handling, which paradoxically makes genuinely circulated examples harder to find than pristine ones.