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5 Dollars - Charles Brooke
| Issuer | Government of Sarawak |
|---|---|
| Year | 1929 |
| 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 | 165 x 102 mm |
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| Engraver(s) | 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 | The central design consists of an elaborate geometric and foliate guilloche pattern forming a large lozenge shape, with the numeral '5' and the word 'DOLLARS' set within a circular medallion at the centre. The inscriptions 'THE GOVERNMENT OF' arc above and 'SARAWAK' below, with ornate starburst rosettes flanking the central panel. The printer's imprint appears in small text at the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | THE GOVERNMENT OF SARAWAK 5 DOLLARS |
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| Comments |
Sarawak's currency was a private royal affair — the Brooke family governed as White Rajahs under personal rule, not as a colonial administration, meaning these notes were obligations of the Rajah himself rather than of the British Crown. Charles Vyner Brooke, the third and final White Rajah, had inherited both the territory and the note-issuing function from his father Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke in 1917. By 1929 the series was already well-established, but the Depression would soon gut trade revenues from rubber and sago, straining the government's ability to maintain convertibility.
Bradbury Wilkinson printed the bulk of Sarawak's paper currency across multiple reigns. Notes from this issue are susceptible to foxing along the margins due to the humidity conditions under which they circulated in Borneo.