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5 Pounds Montagu Bank
| Issuer | Montagu Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860-1868 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in black and white with a green central panel underprint, the note carries a vignette of a town and mountainous landscape at the top centre, with the bank title MONTAGU BANK arched above. A portrait or allegorical figure appears at the upper left. The promise-to-pay text and denomination FIVE POUNDS are rendered in letterpress, with hand-engraved ornamental borders consistent with mid-nineteenth-century British colonial private bank note production. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | MONTAGU BANK CAPE of GOOD HOPE WE PROMISE to pay to the Bearer at our Office here, on demand, the Sum of FIVE POUNDS Sterling, value received. No, 1487 Montagu, 18__ No. 1487 £ FIVE Ent. _____________ For the Directors. William Brown & ㏇ Sc. 40 & 41, Old Broad St. London — Agent, Ewan Christian, Cape Town. HARD STEEL PLATE. |
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| Comments |
The Montagu Bank was one of several short-lived Cape Colony private banks that issued their own notes during the mid-nineteenth century, operating in an environment where no central authority regulated note issuance and public confidence in any given institution could evaporate with a single bad season's harvests. William Brown & Co. in London handled the printing, a common arrangement for colonial issuers who lacked access to domestic security printers of sufficient quality.
The bank did not survive long past the 1860s. Survivors of this series are rare, and unissued remainders account for a disproportionate share of what exists in collections today.