Cyprus was under British administration from 1878 and formally annexed in 1914 when the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of Germany. This note was issued under the authority of the British colonial government during a period when the island's monetary arrangements were being tightened to support wartime financial management across the Eastern Mediterranean.
The P#10 series is scarce. High-denomination colonial notes of this period rarely survived in quantity — large values circulated among merchants and officials, not the general population, and were typically returned to the treasury rather than hoarded.
Cyprus was under British administration from 1878 and formally annexed in 1914 when the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of Germany. This note was issued under the authority of the British colonial government during a period when the island's monetary arrangements were being tightened to support wartime financial management across the Eastern Mediterranean.
The P#10 series is scarce. High-denomination colonial notes of this period rarely survived in quantity — large values circulated among merchants and officials, not the general population, and were typically returned to the treasury rather than hoarded.