Catalog
5 Shillings
| Issuer | Government of the Leeward Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Shillings (1/4) |
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| Composition | 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 green on an uncoloured paper ground. The centre is occupied by a large, finely engraved heraldic shield bearing the quartered arms of the Leeward Islands federation, surmounted by a crown and supported by elaborate foliate scrollwork. The denomination "5/-" appears in bold numerals within ornate lozenge-shaped cartouches to the left and right of the central arms. |
| Reverse lettering | 5/- |
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| Comments |
The Leeward Islands federation — Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, and the British Virgin Islands — was an administrative convenience for the Colonial Office, and this note reflects that awkward reality. A single currency was imposed across islands with genuinely separate economies, issued under a unified government that existed more on paper than in practice. De La Rue produced the series in London, as they did for most British colonial dependencies of the period.
P#1 is the first and rarest of the Leeward Islands issues. The federation itself was dissolved in 1956, and surviving notes from the 1921 series are scarce — the volume printed was small, and the Caribbean climate is hard on paper.