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5 Kolonata - Corfu
| Issuer | Ionian Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1844-1869 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ΙΟΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ $5 ΠÉNTE ΚΈΡΚΥΡΑ 185 Αρ° Υπόσχομαι νά πληρώσω πρὸς τόν ἐπιφέροντα ἀμέσως ἐνταῦθα ΚΟΛΟΝΆΤΑ ΠÉNTE ἤ τό ἰσότιμον εις νόμιμον Ἰονικὸν κυκλοφοροῦν Νόμισμα. Διά τὴν Ἰονικὴν Τράπεζαν ΚΟΛΟΝΆΤΑ ΠÉNTE Λογιστής ΚΈΡΚΥΡΑ (Translation: Ionian Bank. Five. Corfu. I promise to pay to the bearer immediately five kolonata or the equivalent in legal tender Ionian currency. For the Ionian Bank. Five kolonata. Accountant. Corfu.) |
| Reverse description | Printed in blue, the reverse is dominated by an intricate guilloche pattern at centre enclosing the bank name, with the numeral denomination repeated in bold at both the top and bottom margins within further ornamental borders. |
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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.