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5 Dollars
| Issuer | Treasury, Levuka (Kingdom of Fiji) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1871 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | C.R. Levuka TREASURY NOTE, FIVE DOLLARS. The bearer of this is entitled to receive from the Treasury, Levuka, FIVE DOLLARS. Entered Treasurer THIS NOTE is a legal tender, and payable at the Treasury, Levuka, on the First Tuesday in any Month |
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| Signature(s) | S. C. Burt F. W. Hennings |
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| Comments |
Fiji's earliest paper currency predates the cession of the islands to Britain by three years — this note was issued under the short-lived constitutional monarchy of Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, whose government was perpetually cash-starved and dependent on settler commerce centered at Levuka. The Treasury notes of 1871 were a practical necessity, not a formal banking exercise, and the Gazette Office that printed them was primarily a newspaper operation.
Signatories Burt and Hennings were colonial officials rather than professional bankers. Surviving examples are extraordinarily rare; the entire Cakobau government apparatus collapsed in 1874, and most of its financial instruments were rendered void almost immediately upon cession.