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5 Pounds - Elizabeth II
| Issuer | Bank of the Gold Coast |
|---|---|
| Year | 1953 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound (1953-1958) |
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| Obverse description | At right, an intaglio portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in three-quarter profile facing left, wearing a tiara and pearl necklace, anchors the composition. The denomination FIVE POUNDS is rendered in large letterpress text at centre over an intricate guilloche underprint, with the legal tender clause inscribed above in a smaller typeface. The £5 numeral appears in ornate cartouches at upper left and upper right, all enclosed within a lace-pattern guilloche border running the full perimeter of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The central vignette presents a detailed intaglio view of a gold mine complex, with a prominent headframe (winding tower) rising at left and a series of industrial buildings and processing facilities extending across the middle ground, evoking the economic foundations of the Gold Coast colony. The £5 numeral is set in an ornate cartouche at upper left, while FIVE POUNDS appears in a decorative panel at the foot of the note. The entire composition is enclosed within a guilloche border consistent in style with the obverse. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of the Gold Coast had an exceptionally short operational life — the institution was established in 1953 and dissolved when Ghana achieved independence in 1957, at which point the Bank of Ghana took over. Notes issued under this authority were in circulation for at most four years, and this 5 Pound denomination would have represented a substantial sum in a colony where wage labour was still denominated in shillings. High-value notes circulate less, get hoarded more, and survive in better condition precisely because ordinary people rarely spent them casually.
Bradbury Wilkinson's New Malden facility handled a significant portion of British colonial currency printing through this period, and their intaglio work on Gold Coast issues is technically accomplished. The series was rendered obsolete when Ghana decimalized and introduced the Cedi in 1965.