Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Dollars Colonial Bank
| Issuer | Colonial Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| 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 |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a yellow-gold guilloche underprint across the entire field, with the supported Royal Arms vignette centrally placed, flanked by guilloche rosettes bearing the numeral 20 at each corner and vertical TWENTY lettering panels at left and right. COLONIAL BANK is set in large serif lettering across the top, with the date 1st February 1917 and place of issue PORT OF SPAIN TRINIDAD at lower left, and signature lines for Accountant and Manager below the central vignette. The printer's imprint PERKINS, BACON & CO. LTD. LONDON appears at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed entirely in blue, centred on a large oval guilloche frame enclosing the supported Royal Arms with motto scroll, flanked by guilloche ornaments and the numeral 20 within circular panels at left and right. COLONIAL BANK arches across the top in bold serif lettering, with INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER 1836 inscribed below the central vignette, and the printer's imprint at the foot. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Colonial Bank was a British-chartered institution operating across the Caribbean and British Guiana, and by 1917 it had been absorbed into Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas) — though legacy instruments continued circulating under the old name during the transition period. Perkins, Bacon & Co. had a long relationship with colonial currency issuers, their intaglio work being a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure in territories where enforcement was thin.
The S-prefix in the Pick reference indicates private or commercial bank issue rather than a central authority — a distinction that matters for dating and legal tender status in the issuing territory.