Catalog
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| Issuer | Papuan Industries Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Year | 1906 |
| Type | Pattern or trial banknote |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 10 SHILLINGS THEY SHOULD BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PRUNING HOOKS SHARES INTO PLOUGH AND THEIR SPEARS PAPUAN INDUSTRIES Ltd FAITH & WORKS PEACE GOODWILL THE PAPUAN INDUSTRIES Ltd. PAY THE SUM OF TEN SHILLINGS STERLING PAPUA THIS ORDER IS PAYABLE AT THE OFFICES OF THE COMPANY AT MULGRAVE ISLAND AND SYDNEY OR AT THE QUEENSLAND NATIONAL BANK Ltd. THURSDAY ISLAND ISSUED DIRECTOR MANAGING DIRECTOR PAPUA OR NEW GUINEA Mulgrave Is. or Badu TORRES STRAIT Thursday Is. BRADBURY, WILKINSON & Co. Ld. ENGRAVERS LONDON |
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| Reverse lettering | SPECIMEN BRADBURY WILKINSON & Co. Ld. LONDON |
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| Comments |
Papuan Industries Ltd. was a trading and plantation company operating in British New Guinea, and this note is one of the more obscure examples of private commercial scrip issued in the Pacific region. Corporate-issued currency of this kind filled a genuine gap — official coinage was scarce and inconvenient in remote plantation economies where the company itself functioned as the primary commercial intermediary for its workers and suppliers.
Bradbury, Wilkinson's involvement gives it a level of physical quality unusual for plantation scrip. The firm printed colonial government issues across the British Empire; being engaged for a private company note in 1906 suggests Papuan Industries had both the capital and the ambition to produce something resembling legitimate currency.