Catalog
20 Pounds
| Issuer | Government of Fiji |
|---|---|
| Year | 1954-1958 |
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| Printer | Bradbury Wilkinson and Company, United Kingdom (1856-1990) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | £20 £20 GOVERNMENT OF FIJI THESE NOTES ARE LEGAL TENDER FOR THE PAYMENT OF ANY AMOUNT TWENTY POUNDS For the GOVERNMENT of FIJI 1st JULY, 1954. COMMISSIONERS OF CURRENCY £20 £20 BRADBURY, WILKINSON & CO. LTD. ENGLAND |
| Reverse description | The left portion is occupied by fine guilloche lacework forming the decorative underprint, while the centre carries the issuing authority title and denomination in bold letterpress. An unprinted watermark window is positioned at the right margin, balancing the composition. |
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| Comments |
The £20 denomination in this Fijian series was the highest value issued under the colonial Currency Board arrangement, and in a Pacific economy where most transactions were conducted in shillings, a note of this size almost never passed through ordinary hands. Bradbury Wilkinson printed the series in London under contract to the Fiji Currency Board, an administrative body established in 1914 that controlled issue without functioning as a central bank in any conventional sense.
Two signature combinations are recorded across the issue dates, reflecting changes in Currency Board membership rather than any monetary policy shift. High-denomination colonial Pacific notes of this period were heavily used in inter-island trade settlements and government accounts, meaning surviving examples with clean folds are genuinely uncommon.