2 Shillings

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony issued this note under wartime emergency conditions, part of a small series authorized when Japanese forces occupied the Gilbert Islands in late 1941–early 1942, severing normal supply lines and making coin shipments from Britain effectively impossible. The surviving colonial administration, operating from Funafuti in the Ellice Islands, needed something to keep commerce functioning.

The series is genuinely rare. Low original print runs, a small island population, tropical humidity, and wartime destruction all worked against survival. The 1942 Gilbert and Ellice emergency issues are among the scarcest Pacific colonial notes, and the 2 Shillings denomination consistently proves harder to find than the lower values.