Catalog
10 Rupees
| Issuer | Government of the East Africa Protectorate |
|---|---|
| Year | 1905 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#1B |
| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in brown and olive tones with a typographic layout centred on the issuing authority title in bold letterpress at the top, flanked by two large guilloche rosettes. The denomination TEN RUPEES is set in a horizontal band across the centre, with the value also rendered in Arabic and Gujarati scripts in a panel below. The place and date of issue, Mombasa, 1st September 1905, appear in script lettering, with a manuscript signature to the lower right above the legend FOR THE CURRENCY COMMISSIONERS. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted and shows the note's laid paper texture with bleed-through impressions from the obverse design, including the guilloche rosettes, central denomination panel, and textual elements visible in mirror image through the thin paper stock. |
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| Comments |
The Government of the East Africa Protectorate issued this note under the Currency Regulations of 1905, making it among the earliest paper currency produced for British East Africa. The Protectorate itself was an administrative arrangement that would not become the Crown Colony of Kenya until 1920, and the currency it issued reflected a monetary system still being improvised around the rupee — inherited from Indian Ocean trade networks rather than designed from London.
De La Rue's involvement guaranteed technical quality, but distribution across a territory with almost no banking infrastructure and scattered settler populations meant actual circulation was thin. Surviving examples are correspondingly rare.