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100 Dollars
| Issuer | Government of the Straits Settlements |
|---|---|
| Year | 1901 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in red with black serial numbers at upper left and right and lower left and right. The colonial arms vignette is placed at upper centre, flanked by the issuer title in bold letterpress. A guilloche underprint in red fills the field, with the large denomination word HUNDRED overprinted in outline letters across the centre. Inscriptions in Chinese at upper centre and in Jawi script at lower centre reflect the multilingual character of the colony. The date and CURRENCY COMMISSIONERS legend appear across the lower central area. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in red on plain paper, the reverse centres on a vignette of a tiger walking to the left, set within an elaborate guilloche framework of floral and scrollwork ornaments. The large bold word HUNDRED is overprinted in outline letters across the upper portion of the design. Decorative rosette panels occupy the left and right margins, completing the symmetrical layout. |
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| Comments |
The Straits Settlements dollar was pegged to the Mexican silver peso through much of the nineteenth century, but by 1901 the shift toward a managed sterling-linked rate was already in motion — the currency board arrangements that would formally stabilize the system came only after years of volatile silver prices that had played havoc with trade financing across the Straits ports. A government-issued $100 note, rather than one drawn on a chartered bank, reflects how far the colonial administration had moved toward centralizing currency authority away from institutions like the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China.
De La Rue had been producing high-value colonial notes for British territories since the 1860s. The $100 face value made this a wholesale instrument — interbank settlements, large merchant transactions — not something most residents of Singapore, Penang, or Malacca would have handled directly.