Catalog
5 Shillings
| Issuer | Bank of Nassau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1897 |
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| Currency | Pound sterling (1694-date) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE BANK OF NASSAU FIVE SHILLINGS Hereby promises to pay to BEARER on demand the sum of FIVE SHILLINGS Secured by approved Government Securities or Coin deposited with the Receiver General and Treasurer BAHAMA EXPULSIS PIRATA RESTITUTA COMMERCIA NASSAU President Cashier Receiver General and Treasurer |
| Reverse description | The reverse is unprinted, displaying plain cream-coloured cotton paper with no design elements, vignettes, or inscriptions, consistent with the format of early colonial Bahamian currency of this period. |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Nassau was a private commercial bank — not a government institution — chartered under Bahamian law and issuing its own notes in competition with British colonial currency during the late Victorian period. That arrangement was already unusual for a territory of its size, and the bank's circulation privileges were tightly constrained by the colonial administration in London.
The A4B designation suggests a sub-variety within the series, likely differentiated by signature combination or minor plate revision. Pick listings for this issuer are thin, and surviving examples are genuinely rare — the bank's total note-issuing lifespan was short, and Bahamian humidity is not kind to cotton-substrate paper left in circulation or private storage.