Catalog
12½ Cents
| Issuer | Government of Fiji (Cakobau Rex) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1872-1873 |
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| Reference(s) | P#7 |
| Obverse description | Plain typeset note with a chain-link border running along all four edges. The monogram "C.R." (Cakobau Rex) appears at the top centre, flanked by handwritten serial numbers at upper left and upper right, with the place and date of issue "Levuka" inscribed below. The denomination "12½ Cents" is printed in large type at the left and repeated at the right, beneath which appears the Fijian-language text "Ai vola ogo sosomi ni lavo Vakacaracara Vaka Viti"; two manuscript signature lines appear at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | C.R. Levuka 12½ Cents. IKISIPENI NE VAKACA... Ai vola ogo sosomi ni lavo Vakacaracava Vaka Viti Lave Taroga Luco |
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| Comments |
Fiji's Cakobau government — the short-lived constitutional monarchy under Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, recognized by the British but never formally colonized until 1874 — issued these fractional notes to address a chronic shortage of small-denomination coin in the islands. The 12½ cent value is a direct inheritance of the old Spanish-American real system, where eight reales equaled one dollar and one real thus equaled 12½ cents. That arithmetic had already vanished from most of the world by the 1870s.
Printed locally in Levuka, the colonial capital, these are among the very few government notes produced entirely within Fiji before annexation.