Catalog
5 Cents Darvel Bay
| Issuer | The Darvel Bay (Borneo) Tobacco Plantations Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1880-1890 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in orange. The reverse carries a dense engine-turned guilloche field covering the full face, with a large central circle enclosing the numeral '5' in white relief, flanked by two smaller matching rosette medallions at left and right, all contained within a scalloped outer border. Perforated cancellation marks are visible at lower left. |
| Reverse lettering | 5 |
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| Comments |
Darvel Bay sits on the northeast coast of Borneo, and the tobacco plantation economy there during the 1880s operated in near-total isolation from formal banking infrastructure. The Darvel Bay (Borneo) Tobacco Plantations Limited issued its own scrip precisely because there was no practical alternative — coin supply was irregular, and paying labor required something tangible. These notes functioned as a closed-currency system redeemable only within the plantation's own stores and payroll.
Charles Skipper & East handled a significant volume of colonial and commercial scrip printing out of London during this period, which is why their imprint turns up on plantation notes from Borneo to Malaya. The notes were shipped out to a territory that was, at the time of issue, only recently under British North Borneo Chartered Company administration — the Royal Charter was granted in 1881.