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5 Pounds
| Issuer | Somerset East Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1867-1891 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is arranged in a portrait format with a central heraldic vignette of the Cape of Good Hope coat of arms — two rampant lions supporting a shield surmounted by a crown — set beneath an arched bannerhead reading SOMERSET EAST BANK. Guilloche rosettes bearing the denomination numeral £5 are positioned at the upper left and upper right corners, with serial numbers in oval frames flanking the central design. The lower portion carries a cursive promise-to-pay legend and a bold letterpress panel inscribed FIVE POUNDS, with the place and date of issue, an authorising signature, and the text BY ORDER OF THE BOARD / FOR THE TRUSTEES. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse shows a mirror impression of the obverse printing visible through the paper, consistent with a plain unprinted back typical of early South African provincial bank issues of this period, with no independent design elements applied to this side. |
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| Comments |
The Somerset East Bank was one of a handful of small regional banks that briefly held issuing rights in the Cape Colony before the consolidation of South African banking in the late nineteenth century. It never achieved the scale of institutions like the Standard Bank, and its note-issuing life was correspondingly short. Nissen & Parker, the London printers, handled several colonial and provincial accounts during this period — competent craftsmen working in the mid-tier of the banknote trade.
The bank's eventual absorption into the broader Cape banking network effectively ended the note's useful life. Surviving examples are genuinely rare given the small circulation area and the colony's humid coastal conditions, which were hard on paper.