Catalog
5 Pounds
| Issuer | Government of Cyprus |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938-1951 |
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| Printer | Thomas De La Rue & Company, London, United Kingdom |
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| Obverse description | Dark green intaglio print on yellow and light green underprint. At left, the denomination is rendered in three languages — English, Greek (ΠΕΝΤΕ ΛΙΡΑΙ), and Ottoman Turkish (بش ليرا) — accompanied by the Commissioner of Currency signature. At right, an engraved portrait of King George VI appears alongside the numeral value £5. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in dark green on plain paper, the reverse carries the circular heraldic badge of British Cyprus at left, comprising two rampant lions within a roundel rendered in fine intaglio line work. The issuer inscription appears in decorative calligraphic script at lower right. |
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| Comments |
Cyprus was a British Crown Colony throughout this note's entire period of issue, and the Government of Cyprus — rather than a central bank — functioned as the direct currency authority, a colonial arrangement that persisted until independence in 1960. Thomas De La Rue held the printing contract for Cypriot government notes across this entire period, as they did for much of the British colonial world.
The watermark is the sole mechanical security feature, which reflects the relatively low-tech fraud environment of the colony rather than any oversight. At five pounds, this was serious money in wartime and postwar Cyprus — roughly equivalent to several weeks' wages for an agricultural worker.