1 Pound

Tonga retained pound sterling denominations well after most Pacific territories had transitioned to decimal currencies, and this note remained in circulation until the pa'anga replaced the Tongan pound in 1967 at a rate of two pa'anga to one pound. De La Rue's involvement here is unsurprising — the firm held printing contracts across British-administered and British-aligned Pacific territories throughout the postwar decades.

The decade-long issue span is worth noting. A single design running from 1956 to 1966 with no major revision speaks to the political stability of Taufa'ahau Tupou IV's early reign, crowned in 1965 after his mother Queen Sālote's death.