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25 Cents Red print
| Issuer | The British North Borneo Company |
|---|---|
| Year | 1895 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | The British North Borneo Company THE TREASURY, SANDAKAN. Promises to pay the Bearer on Demand the Sum of TWENTY FIVE CENTS Value received |
| Reverse description | The reverse is plain paper with no printed design, though handwritten annotations in Jawi script appear in several locations, consistent with period usage and endorsements. |
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| Comments |
The British North Borneo Company was a chartered trading company that functioned as an actual sovereign government over British North Borneo from 1881 until the Japanese invasion of 1941. It issued its own currency, raised its own army, and administered its own courts. The 1895 fractional notes — of which Pick 1 is among the earliest documented issues — were a practical response to the chronic shortage of small change in a remote territory where coinage supply depended entirely on irregular shipments.
Company-issued paper in denominations below one dollar is genuinely uncommon in surviving form. The combination of tropical climate, heavy use in low-value transactions, and the complete administrative collapse of 1941–1945 accounts for most attrition.