Catalog
5 Kolonata - Corfu
| Issuer | Ionian Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1844-1869 |
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| Currency | Kolonata (1843-1869) |
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| Obverse description | The upper portion carries the bank title ΙΟΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ within a finely engraved border, with a central vignette of the combined arms and crossed flags of Great Britain and the Ionian Islands, flanked by two circular cartouches bearing the dollar-sign denomination "$5" at left and the Greek text ΠΕΝΤΕ at right. Below the vignette, the body text is set in Greek letterpress, including the bearer promise clause in full, the place name ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ, a partially handwritten date, serial number, and the accountant's manuscript signature, with the bold inset panel ΚΟΛΟΝΑΤΑ ΠΕΝΤΕ at the foot above a further ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ imprint. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 5 IONIAN BANK |
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| Comments |
The Ionian Bank was chartered by the British government in 1839 to serve the Ionian Islands, then a British protectorate — making it one of the few colonial-era British overseas banks with formal note-issuing rights. The Kolonata denomination was unique to the Ionian monetary system, which ran on a hybrid of Venetian and British accounting conventions that never fully aligned with Greek or sterling units.
Perkins, Bacon & Petch were already the dominant security printers for British colonial currency by the time this series was produced, and their intaglio work was specifically chosen to deter the endemic forgery problem that had plagued earlier Ionian paper issues. When the islands were ceded to Greece in 1864, the bank retained its charter and continued operating, but Kolonata-denominated notes became obsolete almost immediately.