Catalog
20 Pounds
| Issuer | Government of Fiji |
|---|---|
| Year | 1953 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The central vignette comprises an elaborate multicolour guilloche pattern in shades of orange, purple, blue, and yellow, within which the issuing authority legend 'GOVERNMENT OF FIJI' appears in a cartouche at centre. A large circular blank panel to the right serves as a watermark zone, while a decorative fanfare vignette occupies the left margin. |
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| Protection description | Blank watermark panel reserved in the paper on both obverse (left) and reverse (right). |
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| Comments |
The Government of Fiji — not a central bank — remained the direct currency authority well into the postwar decades, an arrangement that persisted until the establishment of the Central Monetary Authority in 1973. By 1953, Fiji was still a Crown Colony, and this note circulated under that constitutional arrangement, with sterling as the de facto standard underpinning the local pound.
Bradbury Wilkinson's involvement was long-standing across British colonial currency in the Pacific. The 20 Pounds denomination was the highest in the series and would have seen limited day-to-day use given average wages of the period — surviving circulated examples are genuinely uncommon.