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50 Dollars
| Issuer | Government of the Straits Settlements |
|---|---|
| Year | 1901 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green letterpress print on a pale ground with a large purple guilloche underprint bearing the word 'FIFTY' at centre; the colonial arms vignette occupies the upper centre, flanked by the issuer title 'THE GOVERNMENT OF THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS' in bold gothic lettering. Multilingual border legends appear in Chinese script along the top, Arabic script along the bottom, and Jawi script vertically along the side margins. Black serial numbers are positioned at all four corners of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 50 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS Promises to pay the bearer on demand FIFTY DOLLARS at Singapore Local Currency for value received. 1st February 1901 CURRENCY COMMISSIONERS |
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| Comments |
The Straits Settlements currency boards of this period operated under severe practical constraints — the colony had no central bank, and note issuance was managed directly by the colonial government through London-contracted printing. De La Rue had held the contract since the earliest Straits issues, and the 1901 series reflects that continuity rather than any redesign impulse.
The $50 denomination placed this note firmly in the merchant and agency-house tier of commerce. Penang, Malacca, and Singapore each saw very different circulation patterns at the high end, with Singapore's trading houses absorbing the bulk of large-denomination paper. Survival rate for this specific note is low — high-value colonial issues of this vintage were typically redeemed promptly and destroyed, and the 1901 series predates most systematic archival retention.