Catalog
5 Pounds
| Issuer | Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial & Overseas) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1926 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green and orange note with the heading RHODESIAN ISSUE at top. A classical female allegorical vignette occupies the left margin, seated beside sheep and pastoral elements, while a vignette of Victoria Falls fills the right margin. The central panel bears the bank's full title within an ornate frame, with the promise-to-pay text indicating Salisbury as the place of payment, the denomination FIVE POUNDS rendered in bold letterpress within a sunburst guilloche underprint, and the date 1st September, 1926, with serial numbers in the upper corners and manuscript signatures of the Accountant and Manager below. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green, the reverse centres on a large intaglio vignette of a recumbent lion facing left, rendered with fine line engraving against a plain ground. The bank's name BARCLAYS BANK (DOMINION, COLONIAL & OVERSEAS) is inscribed in a scroll above the lion, and the whole composition is enclosed within an elaborate guilloche border with numeral 5 repeated in each corner. |
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| Comments |
Barclays Bank DCO was formed in 1925 through the amalgamation of three separate colonial banking institutions — Colonial Bank, Anglo-Egyptian Bank, and the National Bank of South Africa — giving it an immediate operational footprint across Africa, the Middle East, and the West Indies. This note, issued in the first full year after that merger, predates any rationalization of the branch network and would have circulated under whichever predecessor institution held the relevant local franchise.
Waterlow & Sons handled security printing for a substantial portion of British colonial currency at this period, and their work for DCO is generally well-executed. The watermark remains the primary security measure — no metal thread, no fluorescent features of any kind at this date.