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20 Dollars British Guiana Bank
| Issuer | British Guiana Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1902 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in red, the reverse is composed of three concentric guilloche rosettes arranged horizontally: a large central rosette built from an intricate pattern of interlocking circles within a scalloped outer border, flanked by two smaller circular guilloche medallions each bearing the numeral '20'. The plain white paper surround is unlettered, allowing the engine-turned geometric underprint to serve as the sole anti-counterfeiting device. A perfin cancellation is visible in the lower left quadrant. |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Punch-hole perfin pattern applied to the note, visible on both obverse and reverse in the lower centre-left area, likely used as a cancellation device upon redemption or withdrawal. |
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| Comments |
The British Guiana Bank was a short-lived colonial institution that ceased operations in the early twentieth century, and notes from this period survive almost exclusively in cancelled form — the perfin cancellation punched through the paper being the standard method of retirement rather than destruction. That practice is the reason any example exists at all; uncancelled survivors would be extraordinary.
Perkins Bacon had long experience printing currency and postage stamps for British colonial territories, their intaglio work generally holding up well under tropical conditions. British Guiana's humid climate was notoriously hard on paper issues.