Catalog
5 Pounds
| Issuer | Colonial Bank of Natal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1864 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Pounds |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a classic Victorian commercial style, with the bank title "COLONIAL BANK OF NATAL" arched across the upper portion beneath an ornate vignette incorporating the bank's monogram "CBN" within a decorative cartouche. The denomination "Five Pounds Sterling" appears in letterpress text accompanied by the promise clause "WE PROMISE to pay the BEARER on DEMAND at our Office here VALUE RECEIVED," with the place of issue stated as "Pietermaritzburg, Natal." A bold guilloche panel at lower left carries the words "Five Pounds" in large script, with manuscript date, serial number, and signatures of the Manager and Trustees completing the design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | COLONIAL BANK OF NATAL No. £5 WE PROMISE to pay the BEARER on DEMAND at our Office here Five Pounds Sterling VALUE RECEIVED. Pietermaritzburg, Natal. Five Pounds By order of the Board of Directors. For The Trustees. ENT. Manager |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Colonial Bank of Natal was a short-lived institution — it folded in 1866, just two years after this note was issued, absorbed into the broader consolidation of colonial banking that reshaped Natal's financial structure in the 1860s. The bank never achieved the foothold in Pietermaritzburg that its founders had intended.
Saul Solomon & Co. was a Cape Town printing and publishing house better known for its newspaper work than for banknote production. The choice reflects the limited specialist printing infrastructure available in southern Africa at the time — notes of this type were simply beyond what local facilities could produce with the security features a London firm would have offered.
Survivors are extremely rare; the bank's brief existence and small circulation area account for that.