The Ionian Islands came under British protection in 1815 following the Treaty of Paris, but this piece was struck in 1814 — ahead of the formal establishment of the United States of the Ionian Islands — during the transitional military administration that followed French withdrawal. Britain administered the islands as a protectorate, not a colony, a distinction the Foreign Office was careful to maintain, and the coinage reflects that awkward constitutional status: a British monarch's name on currency for a nominally self-governing Greek-speaking republic.
KM#18 is among the scarcer denominations of the series. The oboli and lepta circulated heavily; the 25 para considerably less so.
The Ionian Islands came under British protection in 1815 following the Treaty of Paris, but this piece was struck in 1814 — ahead of the formal establishment of the United States of the Ionian Islands — during the transitional military administration that followed French withdrawal. Britain administered the islands as a protectorate, not a colony, a distinction the Foreign Office was careful to maintain, and the coinage reflects that awkward constitutional status: a British monarch's name on currency for a nominally self-governing Greek-speaking republic.
KM#18 is among the scarcer denominations of the series. The oboli and lepta circulated heavily; the 25 para considerably less so.