5 Cents - George VI

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.