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5 Pounds
| Issuer | Somerset East Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1867-1891 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | SOMERSET EAST BANK CAPE OF GOOD HOPE We Promise to pay the Bearer on Demand at our Office here the Sum of FIVE POUNDS Sterling for value received. SOMERSET EAST BY ORDER OF THE BOARD FOR THE TRUSTEES Five Pounds |
| 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.