25 Cents

The Straits Settlements 25 Cents note of 1917 owes its existence to wartime metal shortages. Silver coinage was being hoarded and melted across British Malaya, and the colonial government needed a fractional paper substitute quickly. De La Rue had an established relationship with the Crown Agents, so the contract went to London without competitive tender.

Pick 7 is part of a short-lived fractional series — 10 and 50 Cent denominations were issued alongside it — that circulated uncomfortably alongside both coins and the larger dollar notes. Public resistance to low-denomination paper in tropical climates was real; the notes deteriorated fast, and heavily worn survivors are far more common than clean ones.