Catalog
5 Pounds - Cephalonia
| Issuer | Ionian Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1840 |
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| Currency | Pound |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | IONIAN BANK ΙΟΝΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΚΕΦΑΛΛΗΝΙΑ CEPHALONIA ΠΕΝΤΕ FIVE Promise to pay the Bearer on demand here FIVE POUNDS STERLING, or the Equivalent in Legal Ionian Currency. For the Ionian Bank. SPECIMEN ΠΕΝΤΕ ΛΙΡΑΙ S£ Five Pounds S£ Accountant Manager |
| Reverse description | Reverse is blank, without any printed design, text, or ornamentation. |
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| Comments |
The Ionian Bank was chartered by an act of the British-controlled United States of the Ionian Islands in 1839, making it one of the very few colonial-era British banks to issue currency denominated in pounds while operating entirely in Greek-speaking territory. The 1840 issues represent the bank's earliest printed notes, and the Cephalonia branch designation is significant — the bank operated branches across the seven islands, each with its own place of issue printed on the face, creating distinct branch varieties within the same series.
The Ionian Islands remained under British protection until 1864, when they were ceded to Greece. Notes from the 1840s predate that transfer by over two decades and circulated in a peculiar monetary environment where British institutional authority sat awkwardly over a population that would eventually unify with a country on a drachma standard.