Catalog
5 Dollars - Charles Vyner Brooke
| Issuer | Government of Sarawak |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918-1922 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#10 |
| Obverse description | Printed in black and grey, the note bears a portrait vignette of Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke at upper left and a central top vignette of Baroness Burdett-Coutts before a ship, with the Sarawak coat of arms incorporated into the design. The denomination is expressed in numerals and text across the note in English, Arabic, and Chinese script, with corner numerals repeating the value. An ornate guilloche border frames the entire composition. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 5 SARAWAK 5 FIVE FIVE DOLLARS 5 5 |
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| Comments |
Perkins Bacon's involvement here is worth noting: the firm had spent most of the nineteenth century perfecting steel-engraved security printing for colonial currencies across the Empire, and their work for Sarawak is technically accomplished despite the small scale of the territory. Charles Vyner Brooke succeeded his father Rajah Charles Brooke in 1917, making this one of the earliest issues under his rule — the dates bracket the final year of World War One and its immediate aftermath, a period when Sarawak's oil revenues were beginning to reshape its finances.
The Brooke Rajahs issued currency as a sovereign prerogative, not through a chartered bank, which remained unusual among British-administered territories.