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1000 Dollars - George VI
| Issuer | Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Portrait of King George VI within an ornate guilloche vignette at right, with the numeral '1000' within a decorative rosette at left. The note is dated 1st January 1942 and bears bilingual inscriptions in English and Jawi script. A signature of the Chairman of the Commissioners appears at lower right, with serial number printed at upper right and lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Board of Commissioners of Currency Malaya This Note is Legal Tender for One Thousand Dollars in the Straits Settlements and Malay States |
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| Comments |
The Malayan dollar series printed by Bradbury Wilkinson in 1942 was never intended for peacetime banking. The Japanese invasion of February 1942 overtook the territory before most of the higher denominations could be properly distributed, and the occupying forces immediately replaced the existing currency with their own "banana money." Notes from this print run were largely in transit or in vault storage when Singapore fell.
The $1000 face value made this one of the highest-denomination colonial currency notes issued in the region. Whether any reached genuine circulation before the collapse is a matter of some dispute among specialists — surviving examples in used condition are treated with particular skepticism.