1 Pound

Tonga's currency in this period operated under an unusual arrangement: the Government of Tonga issued notes directly, bypassing a central bank entirely, a structure that persisted for decades. The 1937–1938 issue was part of a small series produced by De La Rue at a time when the Kingdom remained a British Protected State — technically sovereign, yet with its external relations managed from London. That political ambiguity is quietly embedded in the note's existence.

P#7 is scarce in any grade. The combination of low print run, Pacific Island circulation conditions, and the disruptions of the Second World War that followed almost immediately accounts for the attrition.