Different currencies of the world offer different perspectives about our history. The British had managed to colonise several parts of the world in the 18th century. They had also issued interesting world banknotes for their respective colonies. Let’s learn in detail about four such banknotes from around the world that were issued for British colonies in West Africa, Caribbean islands, North Borneo and Honduras.

1918 1 Shilling World Banknotes from British West Africa:

These beautiful rectangular world banknotes were issued in 1918 for the British West African colonies of Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria. They bore the denomination 1 Shilling and featured the signature of A.E. Collins. These banknotes of the world featured designs only on one side and had the prefix Q1 while its vignette featured a Palm Tree.

The Obverse featured the prefix with serial number on both sides of the top row. The value was written in words ONE SHILLING at the top centre. The legends ‘Issued by the’ and ‘WEST AFRICAN CURRENCY BOARD’ were printed on a curved bordered rectangle. Other elements included the text ‘These notes are legal tender for the payment of any amount’, image of one shilling coin, numeral 1, legend ‘LAGOS’, date and signatures.

1950 1 Dollar Note from British Caribbean territories:

Here’s one of the unique banknotes from around the world that was issued for the British Caribbean territories – Leeward Islands, British Guiana, Barbados, Windward Islands, and Trinidad and Tobago. This rectangular 1 dollar note was issued during the regime of George VI in 1950. It featured the prefix F1 and a Bust of King George VI facing front as a vignette. This red coloured world currency note was printed at Bradbury Wilkinson, New Malden.

The obverse featured the value in boxes on four corners. Other legends included the texts ‘THE BRITISH CARIBBEAN TERRITORIES EASTERN GROUP’ and ‘ONE DOLLAR FOR THE CURRENCY BOARD’. These world banknotes bore the signature of chairman and member. It featured an Underprint numeral ‘1’ and value ‘ONE DOLLAR’. Other elements such as serial number, date and map of Caribbean were also included on the obverse.

The reverse of this world paper money depicted the Coat of arms of member territories Leeward Islands, British Guiana, Windward Islands and Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, value ‘ONE DOLLAR’, value in numeral, legend ‘THE BRITISH CARIBBEAN TERRITORIES’ and ‘EASTERN’ ‘GROUP’.

1895 25 Cents Uniface Note from British North Borneo:

The obverse featured the coat of arms, value in words and value in numeral within a wavy thin border. Other texts included the legend ‘The British North Borneo Company’, ‘THE TREASURY, SANDAKAN’, bearer’s name and date, promise text ‘Promise to pay the Bearer on Demand the sum of TWENTY FIVE CENTS value received’, signatures of accountant and treasurer.

1894 1 Dollar Uniface Note of British Honduras:

These amazing rare banknotes of the world bore the denomination 1 Dollar and were issued for East coast of Central America and south of Mexico in the year 1894. This rectangular uniface world paper money featured the signatures of Enerst Bickham Sweet-Escott, Carlos Melhado while the Coat of Arms appeared as the Vignette. The watermark depicted the text CC which stands for Crown Colony. They had an off-white background while the texts were printed in black font.

The obverse featured artistic floral borders along with lathe work and stars within circles. Other elements included the serial number, legend ‘The Government of British Honduras’/ ‘PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF’, ‘ONE DOLLAR’, numeral ‘I’, signatures, legend ‘BELIZE’, circular ink stamp to denote city of issue, Belize, and the date.

If you like collecting banknotes from the world then these four world currency notes can definitely make a splendid set.

If you are planning to build a unique set of world banknotes then look for these four Banknotes of the World that were issue for four different British colonies.