BARCLAY'S BANK CARIBBEAN BANKNOTES

 

As we approach the final months of 2025 here at Stack's Bowers Galleries, we are already looking ahead to 2026. As is our tradition, the NYINC auction will be our first major world paper money event of the year. We have already started preliminary work for that sale, and I came across a group of specimen notes from the Jerry & Diane Fishman Collection that are the topic of this blog post. These specimens were printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. for Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas) starting in 1926. The notes, which have always interested me, were prepared for the various branches of the bank in the Caribbean, and are a fascinating (but understudied) area of world paper money.

While the firm of Barclays can trace its history to late 17th-century London, the iteration of the company that concerns this blog post came about in 1925 following the amalgamation of the Colonial Bank, the National Bank of South Africa and the Anglo-Egyptian Bank, allowing Barclays to expand its overseas operations using the name Barclays Bank D.C.O. With the British Empire stretching across the world, the concept was the brainchild of chairman F.C. Goodenough, who wished to ease transactions of Barclays customers in the United Kingdom with the territories and thus make it easier for people to use the bank's services no matter where they were.

Today, a concept such as what Goodenough proposed might not seem out of the ordinary, but we should remember that in 1925, international travel and trade were more limited. There were certain hurdles that made having a single banking institution in many places around the world advantageous. Still, the world is a big place, so Barclays D.C.O. focused its activities in British colonies in the Caribbean and in Africa. In several of these places, the bank issued paper money, including in Rhodesia, Southwest Africa, and around the Caribbean. Elsewhere, in the Middle East and Asia, branches were opened, but the bank's activities were much more limited.

The notes in the Fishman Collection are from the Caribbean. In Antigua, Barbados, British Guiana, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad & Tobago notes were introduced in 1926 of identical designs, but identified by a different code letter and place of issue. What makes these notes so interesting is a fairly simplistic issuance system that has never been fully explored but which can be studied using specimens of this series, which typically show a printing range. Prefixes changed every 10,000 notes, and specimens were created for each print run, which could be more or fewer than 10,000 notes and appeared to have been dependent on orders of notes by the bank.

What this means is that the emission sequence of these notes can be used to determine exactly how many of each date and denomination were issued for each colony. I have worked on putting the emission sequence together for several years, and while it is not yet complete, some interesting facts can be discerned from these scarce specimens. Iit appears that for most print runs just one or two archival specimens were created, so while it might appear that most are relatively common, they are all different varieties.):

• Jamaica is the only colony that has a separate emission sequence.
• A total of 475,000 notes of the $5 denomination were printed for the other colonies in 1926, 19,500 notes were printed for the $20, and just 6,500 notes were printed for the $100 (these were the only three denominations issued).
• After 1926, most print orders each year are for one or two branches only, and for the $20 and $100, it would take until the early 1930s before additional notes were ordered by the bank for any of its branches.
• Demand varies widely by colony. The $5 denomination was printed for all branches, but the $20 and $100 were printed for select branches only, in much smaller quantities.

Looking at the print quantities, as indicated by the serial number ranges seen on these specimen notes, it is no surprise that these notes in issued format are incredibly scarce. But what few people know is that print totals are truly minuscule. For example, based on the specimens seen, just 200 notes of the $100 denomination were printed in 1931, and only for Barbados. Good luck finding an issued example, and with just one or two specimens produced, it is one of the great rarities in the commonwealth. Yet, these specimens are often quite affordable, as most people assume they are readily available, with printings in 1926, 1931, 1932, 1933, and 1935. In reality, however, locating any of the specific dates or colonies, even in specimen format, is deceptively difficult.

This is just a brief introduction to these fascinating issues. So far, no numismatic researcher appears to have taken on the challenge of fully untangling the emission sequence of this bank and its predecessor, the Colonial Bank, in the Caribbean. There are, however, several published histories of the institution itself that are well worth consulting for those interested in the broader story of Barclays Bank DCO. The most accessible of these is The DCO Story: A History of Banking in Many Countries 1925–71 by Sir Julian Crossley and John Blandford, published by the bank in London in 1975.

To read the complete article, see:
Underappreciated Rarities: Barclays Bank, D.C.O. Specimens from the Caribbean (https://stacksbowers.com/underappreciated-rarities-barclays-bank-d-c-o-specimens-from-the-caribbean/)

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