Catalog
5 Pounds Barry & Nephews
| Issuer | Barry & Nephews |
|---|---|
| Year | 1850-1859 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BARRY & NEPHEWS SWELLENDAM On Demand We Promise to pay the Bearer at our Office here, or at CAPE TOWN, the Sum of FIVE POUNDS Sterling. Swellendam, 185 Five Royston & Brown, London HARD STEEL PLATE |
| Reverse description | Reverse is blank, without printing or ornamentation. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Barry & Nephews was a Hobart-based merchant house, and this note belongs to a generation of pre-banking-reform private issues that circulated in Van Diemen's Land before the colonial banking sector consolidated enough to crowd out trader-issued paper. Merchant notes like this one operated on the issuer's commercial reputation alone — no charter, no government backing, no reserve requirement.
Royston & Brown produced a number of antipodean private issues from London during this period, working from engraved plates shipped or carried to the colony for local signing and issue. The physical distance between printer and issuer created obvious opportunities for fraud, and colonial courts dealt with several such cases in the 1850s.