Catalog
5 Rufiyaa
| Issuer | Government of Maldives |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947-1960 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Rufiyaa (5 MVR) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed in orange and purple, the reverse carries a central vignette of the Sakkarannya Gate at the Court of Eterekoilu within the Sultan's Palace complex, rendered in the fine architectural engraving style characteristic of Bradbury Wilkinson's intaglio work of the period. |
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| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | P#4a - 1947 P#4b - 1960 |
| Comments |
The Maldives issued its first modern paper currency series in 1947, a decade before independence from British protection in 1965. Bradbury Wilkinson, the New Malden firm responsible for a large share of the colonial and post-colonial world's banknote output in this period, handled the printing — a routine arrangement for a British protectorate with no domestic printing capability whatsoever.
The Rufiyaa had replaced the older Lari-based accounting system in name only; traditional cowrie shell exchange persisted in the outer atolls well into the 1950s, making notes like this one largely a Malé phenomenon rather than a genuinely national currency.