5 Shillings

Malta's 1939 5 Shillings note was issued under British colonial authority just weeks before war broke out in Europe. The colony's government moved quickly to stabilize its currency supply in anticipation of wartime disruption, and Bradbury Wilkinson — then the dominant security printer for British colonial issues — produced the run in London.

Wartime conditions hit Malta harder than almost any other Allied territory. The island's siege between 1940 and 1942 meant normal note replacement cycles collapsed entirely. Surviving examples from this issue are frequently found heavily circulated, as damaged notes simply stayed in use far longer than peacetime practice would have permitted.