Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
various handwritten amounts
| Issuer | Ad-Interim Administration Fiji Banking and Commercial Company Limited, Levuka |
|---|---|
| Year | 1874 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CERTIFICATE OF INDEBTEDNESS. SALARY ACCOUNT. Treasury, Levuka, We hereby certify that the Government of Fiji is indebted to in the sum of Sterling, which amount will be payable to his order Four Months after date. Treasurer. Chief Secretary. Accountant. |
| Reverse description | Plain laid paper, largely unprinted, bearing extensive handwritten manuscript endorsements in ink by multiple hands, including the payee's name, partial payment records, and various annotations. Vertical fold lines traverse the surface, consistent with the note having been folded during active circulation. |
| 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 chartered in the early 1870s to service a colony that was still, technically, independent — Britain did not formally annex Fiji until October 1874. These notes therefore predate Crown rule by months and were issued under a commercial banking licence granted by the indigenous Fijian government. The "Ad-Interim Administration" designation reflects the transitional authority that governed the company's operations during an unusually unstable period of chieftaincy politics and European settler pressure.
W. Cook of Exeter was a provincial printer, not a specialist banknote house. The handwritten denomination blanks were almost certainly a deliberate workaround — avoiding the cost and lead time of engraved plates for each value, and allowing the company to issue whatever amounts the moment required.