Catalog
5 Dollars Colonial Bank
| Issuer | Colonial Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1907 |
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| Value | 5 Dollars |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on beige underprint, with the legend COLONIAL BANK rendered in large curved letters reversed out in white across the centre of the note. The British Royal Coat of Arms appears at top centre, flanked on both sides by the branch designation ISSUED AT ST. KITTS BRANCH printed diagonally in black. The promise-to-pay text and denomination FIVE DOLLARS are inscribed below, with place of issue given as BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | COLONIAL BANK $5 ISSUED AT ST. KITTS BRANCH $5 WE PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF FIVE DOLLARS BRIDGETOWN BY ORDER OF THE COURT OF DIRECTORS OF THE COLONIAL BANK FIVE DOLLARS BARBADOS |
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| Comments |
The Colonial Bank operated across the British West Indies and British Guiana from its founding in 1836, holding a near-monopoly on colonial banking in several territories for decades. By 1907 it was already in the late stages of its independent existence — Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas) absorbed it in 1925 along with two other Caribbean banks in a consolidation that wiped the Colonial Bank name from circulation entirely.
Perkins, Bacon & Petch were the dominant security printers for British colonial currency throughout this period, their intaglio work largely responsible for the visual continuity across otherwise quite different issuing authorities. The P#S111 designation places this note in the specialized rather than general circulation series — worth noting for attribution purposes.