Catalog
5 Pounds
| Issuer | Government of Cyprus |
|---|---|
| Year | 1953 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in green on an unornamented light ground. At left, a circular vignette presents the colonial arms of Cyprus with two heraldic lions passant guardant arranged in pairs on a quartered shield. To the right, the issuer's name is rendered in a gothic blackletter script. |
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| Signature(s) | S.M. Lih, Commissioner of Currency |
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| Comments |
Cyprus was still a British Crown Colony in 1953, and the Currency Commissioner arrangement — rather than a central bank — reflects that directly. The Government of Cyprus did not establish a central bank until 1963, three years after independence, so these notes carried the authority of the colonial administration through the Commissioner of Currency structure.
Thomas De La Rue produced this series using the same high-quality intaglio work they were supplying to dozens of colonial currency boards at the time. S.M. Lih's tenure as Commissioner is the anchoring fact for dating unissued stock versus circulated examples within this Pick 32 series.