Vollständige Bilder anzeigen — kostenlose Registrierung
Mit Google fortfahren — kostenlos oder mit E-Mail registrieren

5 Shillings

Emittent Mercantile Bank of India, London & China, Colombo
Jahr 1857
Typ Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Nennwert Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Währung Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Material Cotton paper
Größe Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Form Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Druckerei Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Designer Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Stecher Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Im Umlauf bis Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Referenz(en) Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Vorderseitenbeschreibung The note is headed 'CEYLON BRANCH' in serif capitals at the top centre, with denomination panels reading '5 SHILLINGS' in the upper left and right corners. A central vignette presents a seated classical female figure — evoking Britannia — flanked by a lion and a palm tree, combining imperial and tropical imagery in an engraved style consistent with mid-nineteenth-century colonial banknote production. Below, the full bank title 'THE MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA, LONDON & CHINA' appears above a copperplate promise-to-pay text, with manuscript serial number fields and signature lines for the Accountant and Manager at the foot.
Vorderseitenlegende CEYLON BRANCH
5 SHILLINGS
THE MERCANTILE BANK OF INDIA, LONDON & CHINA
Promises to pay the Bearer on demand at its Branch in COLOMBO, in the Currency of the Island FIVE SHILLINGS, Value rec'd
By order of the Directors
ACCT.
MANAGER.
Rückseitenbeschreibung Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Rückseitenlegende Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Unterschrift(en) Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Sicherheitsmerkmal Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Beschreibung der Sicherheitsmerkmale Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Varianten Anmelden um Details zu sehen
Anmerkungen

The Mercantile Bank of India, London and China was incorporated under Royal Charter in 1853, growing out of the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India — one of the exchange banks that financed the colonial trade networks linking Britain, India, and the China coast. The Colombo branch was a relatively minor outpost in that network, and the decision to issue low-denomination notes in shillings rather than rupees reflects the hybrid monetary environment of mid-19th century Ceylon, where both sterling and Company-era coinage circulated simultaneously.

Surviving examples from this 1857 issue are exceptionally rare. The bank itself was absorbed into the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in 1959, but its earliest colonial branch issues had effectively vanished from circulation long before.