Catalog
5 Cents - George VI
| Issuer | Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Size | 102 x 63 mm |
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| Obverse description | Portrait of King George VI in military uniform within an oval vignette at left, printed in red on a green guilloche underprint. The denomination 'FIVE CENTS' is displayed in large letterpress text at centre, with the value numeral '5' repeated in ornamental rosettes at upper-left and lower-right corners. The date '1ST JULY 1941' appears below the central text, with the Chairman's manuscript signature and title at lower right; Jawi and Chinese script inscriptions appear in the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Reverse is unprinted, showing only the faint impression of the obverse design as a natural ink show-through on plain white paper stock. |
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| Comments |
The Board of Commissioners of Currency was established in 1938 to provide a unified currency across British Malaya and the Straits Settlements, replacing the patchwork of earlier colonial issuances. This 1941 note was printed well before the Japanese invasion of December that year, but many of these small-denomination notes remained unissued when Malaya fell — the occupying administration replaced them almost immediately with Japanese Military Yen, which bore no exchange guarantee and was backed by nothing at all.
Pick 7b is distinguished from 7a by the Mueisberg signature. Printed by De La Rue in London at a moment when the London facilities were themselves operating under wartime conditions.