Catalog
5 Dollars
| Issuer | Government of Sarawak |
|---|---|
| Year | 1880-1903 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Portrait vignette of Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke at upper left, flanked by a standing full-length vignette of Baroness Burdett-Coutts at upper centre and the arms of Sarawak at upper right. Denomination panels in the border carry the value inscriptions rendered in the finely engraved intaglio style characteristic of Perkins, Bacon & Co. production. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | SARAWAK FIVE FIVE DOLLARS |
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| Comments |
Sarawak under Charles Brooke — the second White Rajah — operated as a personal fiefdom with its own currency, postal service, and legal code, answerable to no colonial treasury. Perkins, Bacon & Co. had long experience printing security documents for small sovereign issuers, and their intaglio work on this series is characteristically fine.
The date range reflects a long print run across which the notes were issued on demand rather than in discrete batches, making precise dating of individual specimens difficult. Sarawak's population and commercial activity were limited enough that five-dollar notes circulated primarily among Chinese merchant traders rather than in everyday retail transactions.