Catalog
10 Shillings
| Issuer | Government of the Cook Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1894 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Shillings |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in blue, red, and black on white paper, with a fine guilloche border framing the entire note. At the upper centre, two crossed flags — the New Zealand ensign and a red-white-blue tricolour — are tied with a ribbon inscribed with the authorising act date; to the upper right, a circular medallion carries the denomination numeral '10' over the letter 'S'. The central text panel, set against a large red underprint reading 'SHILLINGS', states that the note will be received by the Government of the Cook Islands for Ten Shillings Sterling in payment of Import Duty or other Dues, with 'No.' and 'Registered' fields at lower left and a 'Receiver of Revenue' signature line at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is essentially blank white paper, showing only faint bleed-through impressions of the obverse text and the large 'SHILLINGS' underprint visible in mirror image, with no printed design elements. |
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| Comments |
Cook Islands notes from this period are rare precisely because the islands were administered as part of New Zealand from 1901 onward, collapsing what had been a brief window of direct British-backed local currency. The 1894 issues predate that annexation by only seven years, and very few circulated in any meaningful volume given the tiny population and the prevalence of barter and foreign coin across the group.
Pick 2A is among the earliest paper issues attributable to any Pacific island government, which makes surviving examples genuinely uncommon rather than merely scarce by catalog convention.