Catalog
2 Kolonata - Zakynthos
| Issuer | Ionian Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1843-1869 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Kolonata |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Bank arms and flags of Great Britain and the Ionian Islands within an elaborate vignette at upper centre, with the issuing branch and denomination inscriptions surrounding the central motif. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The bank name "IONIAN BANK" is set within a large central horizontal guilloche oval, flanked by two circular rosette guilloche medallions on each side and framed by foliate ornamental sprays. The numeral "2" appears in guilloche oval cartouches at the top and bottom, establishing the denomination. The printer's imprint "Perkins Bacon & Co London, Patent Hardened Steel Plate" is inscribed in small text at the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The Ionian Bank was chartered in London in 1839 specifically to operate in the Ionian Islands, which were then a British protectorate — an unusual arrangement that gave a privately incorporated British bank quasi-official monetary standing in a Greek-speaking territory. The Zakynthos branch notes circulated alongside those from the Corfu head office and were denominated in kolonata, the local unit tied to the Venetian legacy coinage still in common use.
Perkins, Bacon & Petch were the dominant security printers of the period, and their intaglio work on this series is among the finer output of the mid-nineteenth century. Branch-specific issues like this Zakynthos piece are considerably scarcer than the main Corfu issues; branch office redemption records were kept separately and destruction of unsorted branch stock was routine when the protectorate ended in 1864.