5 Pounds

Malta's earliest government-issued paper currency came about because the island's commercial banks were not trusted to manage wartime monetary supply. The 1914 notes were issued under emergency authority at the outbreak of the First World War, when specie hoarding created an immediate small-denomination shortage — though a 5-pound note addressed the other end of the problem, replacing gold sovereigns that had vanished from circulation within weeks of hostilities beginning.

The embossed seal was the sole mechanical security feature, a notably minimal approach even by the standards of colonial treasury notes of the period.