2 Kolonata - Corfu

The Ionian Bank was chartered by the British Crown in 1839, specifically to operate in the Ionian Islands while they remained a British Protectorate. Its notes circulated under an unusual dual-sovereignty arrangement — the islands were nominally independent but under British protection, which meant this issue had no direct connection to the Greek monetary system even after Greece adopted the drachma in the 1830s. The Kolonata denomination itself reflects local Ionian accounting traditions rather than mainland Greek practice.

Perkins, Bacon & Petch brought their intaglio security printing expertise from banknote and stamp work; the firm had already printed early adhesive postage stamps for Britain by this point. The 26-year date span of the issue is unusually long for a 19th-century colonial banking note.