Catalog
5 Shillings
| Issuer | Fiji Banking and Commercial Company Limited |
|---|---|
| Year | 1871 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed note with a decorative rectangular border enclosing the issuer's name in bold script across the upper portion: "Fiji Banking and Commercial Company, Limited." A central vignette of a floral or heraldic device is flanked by serial numbers (No. 707) on either side, with the place of issue "LEVUKA" and a manuscript date at left. The promise-to-pay text runs across the centre in a guilloche-bordered panel, with denomination numerals "5" repeated in the four corners and "5 SHILLINGS" in bold at foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse with a single ornate engraved cartouche composed of scrollwork and floral corner flourishes, enclosing three lines of Fijian-language text pledging redemption of the note at face value in sterling. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Fiji Banking and Commercial Company was a short-lived colonial institution, incorporated in Sydney and operating in Fiji during the unsettled period before formal British annexation in 1874. That political ambiguity matters here: Fiji had no sovereign government with a functioning treasury, and private banks filled the vacuum. Notes like this one circulated alongside a chaotic mix of colonial scrip, foreign coins, and plantation barter tokens.
S. T. Leigh & Co. were primarily commercial printers — jobbing work, stationery, trade forms — not specialist security printers. That background is visible in how these notes were produced, without the intaglio sophistication of a De La Rue or Bradbury Wilkinson contract.
Survivors are extremely rare. Pick 19 predates the Cakobau government's own note issues and the entire Crown Colony period.