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!
5 Shillings
| Issuer | Bank of Nassau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1897 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Pound sterling (1694-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| 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 printed in black on cream-coloured paper and bears a central issuer title, THE BANK OF NASSAU, in large bold serif lettering, with a vignette of a sailing ship within a circular frame at the left inscribed BAHAMA and EXPULSIS PIRATA RESTITUTA COMMERCIA. A portrait vignette of a male figure in formal attire is enclosed in an oval frame at the right. The denomination FIVE SHILLINGS appears in a guilloche panel at the upper right and again in bold lettering at centre, with a promise-to-pay text reading Hereby promises to pay to BEARER on demand the sum of FIVE SHILLINGS, and a security clause referencing Government Securities or Coin deposited with the Receiver General and Treasurer. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | THE BANK OF NASSAU FIVE SHILLINGS Hereby promises to pay to BEARER on demand the sum of FIVE SHILLINGS Secured by approved Government Securities or Coin deposited with the Receiver General and Treasurer BAHAMA EXPULSIS PIRATA RESTITUTA COMMERCIA NASSAU President Cashier Receiver General and Treasurer |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 Bank of Nassau was a private commercial bank — not a government institution — chartered under Bahamian law and issuing its own notes in competition with British colonial currency during the late Victorian period. That arrangement was already unusual for a territory of its size, and the bank's circulation privileges were tightly constrained by the colonial administration in London.
The A4B designation suggests a sub-variety within the series, likely differentiated by signature combination or minor plate revision. Pick listings for this issuer are thin, and surviving examples are genuinely rare — the bank's total note-issuing lifespan was short, and Bahamian humidity is not kind to cotton-substrate paper left in circulation or private storage.