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5 Pounds
| Issuer | Wellington Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1879-1888 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse carries the bank title 'WELLINGTON BANK' across the top within a scroll cartouche, flanked by floral vine borders. A central oval vignette contains a portrait bust, inscribed 'CAPE OF GOOD HOPE' around its frame, with the denomination numeral '5' in script to the right. The promise-to-pay text reads 'We Promise to pay the Bearer on Demand at our Office here FIVE POUNDS Sterling for Value received,' with the place of issue 'WELLINGTON, Cape of Good Hope' and a manuscript date below; a guilloche oval panel inscribed 'FIVE POUNDS' occupies the lower left, an anchor vignette appears at the left margin, and a serial number panel appears twice on the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | WELLINGTON BANK CAPE OF GOOD HOPE We Promise to pay the Bearer on Demand at our Office here FIVE POUNDS Sterling for Value received WELLINGTON, Cape of Good Hope FIVE POUNDS By order of the Board of Directors Entered DIRECTORS |
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| Comments |
The Wellington Bank was one of several small colonial land banks operating in the Western Cape during the late nineteenth century, serving agricultural communities rather than acting as a general commercial institution. These private issuing banks existed in a largely unregulated environment — the Cape Colony had no central bank, and local notes circulated on the issuer's reputation alone.
Nissen & Parker were a London security printing firm who handled a number of South African private bank issues during this period. The "Printed: Cape of Good Hope" attribution in catalog records almost certainly refers to the territory of issue, not the press location — the physical printing was done in London.
The Wellington Bank did not survive into the twentieth century, and surviving notes from this series are genuinely scarce.