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| Issuer | Government of the British Solomon Islands |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916-1932 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Pound |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS / PROMISES TO PAY TO BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF / ONE POUND / FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS / Commissioners of Currency |
| Reverse description | The reverse is essentially unprinted, presenting a plain cream paper surface with faint ghost impressions from the obverse visible through the paper. A manuscript annotation in Japanese characters appears in the upper right corner, likely a collector or wartime notation added after issue. |
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| Comments |
The British Solomon Islands Protectorate had no banking infrastructure at all in this period — no commercial bank operated there until the 1950s. These pound notes were issued directly by the colonial government to meet basic administrative and trading needs in a territory where copra was still a more reliable medium of exchange than paper currency among much of the local population.
Pick 3 is genuinely rare. The entire series of government currency notes from this protectorate survives in very small numbers, a consequence of the climate, the limited circulation network, and wartime destruction during the Japanese occupation of the Solomons from 1942 onward — which postdates this issue but consumed much of what remained in government hands.