无年份砂劳越政府银行伍圆。未发行样票。SARAWAK. Government of Sarawak. 5 Dollars, ND. P-Unlisted. KNB35s. Unissued Pattern Note. PMG Choice About Uncirculated 58.
正面以粉红为底色施加紫彩，配以多色叠印纹饰；左侧为查尔斯·温纳·布鲁克肖像，中央刊国徽，面额数字分饰四角。背面通体紫罗兰色调，中央饰以大型数字“5”与藤蔓状扭索纹。此枚为二战日佔时期预备于光复后发行之紧急货币，属完整印制之钞票。 当二战进入最终阶段，英国当局为恢复整个东南亚的民政管理进行周密部署。在日军佔领区，急遽贬值的军票已取代原有地方货币。为迎接盟军胜利，当局预先设计印制替代货币，以确保光复后可立即推行稳健金融体系。当局为马来亚（年份为1942年）、荷属东印度（年份为1943年）、菲律宾及砂劳越等地准备了钞票。 砂劳越于1942年初沦陷。其战前纸钞以存放伦敦的政府基金为担保，具备十足兑现能力，此特质使其有别于北婆罗洲等邻近地区的发行。佔领期间，英国本土策划新钞系列，刊印末代白色拉者查尔斯·温纳·布鲁克肖像。本品伍圆即属该批战时印钞，据信由布拉德伯里·威尔金森公司于1944至1945年间承印。虽曾查询该公司相关档案，然所有纪录似已佚失，无从考证。
虽日本于1945年8月投降后英军政府迅速接管，此批砂劳越新钞终未投放市面。初期流通需求由马来亚辅币暂代。温纳·布鲁克虽于1946年4月重返古晋，然佔领时期之经济重创与重建压力仍持续笼罩这小邦。1946年7月1日，其正式将砂劳越主权移交英王，终结逾百年的布鲁克王朝，开启直辖殖民地时代。 战后数年之档案资料显示，当局仍持续考量发行此批纸钞。现存英国国家档案馆之布拉德伯里·威尔金森存档照片——1949年7月1日摄制之伍圆，带有细编号——佐证这批战时预制钞票直至多年后仍被评估流通可行性。然随砂劳越于1952年元旦正式纳入马来亚货币体系，隶属马来亚与英属婆罗洲货币委员会管辖，原定砂劳越发行计画遂告终止。 本玖圆原属一套系列钞票之部分，同系列含A组壹圆、拾圆，及B组壹圆、伍圆、拾圆（色系配置各异），最早见载于陈千祥医生之著名藏集，并刊录于其1991年著作《海峡殖民地、马来亚、英属北婆罗洲、砂劳越和汶莱的纸币：陈千祥医生藏集》。陈氏藏集散佚后，此组钞票归入一长期秘藏之私人收藏。相关记载甚稀，纵有疑似複制品曾于砂劳越博物馆镶框展示，然现今下落不明。因布拉德伯里·威尔金森公司多数生产纪录已遗失或销毁，该公司现存档案亦未见明确记载。故A、B组套票，辅以少量存档照片及相关文献，遂成此日佔时期预制、拟于战后流通之历史性发行的重要物证。 编号A/3 000000显示此为第三百万号段，然总印制量仍属未解之谜。极少数倖存于世之实物，成为砂劳越在政治剧变时期最后独立货币计画的具体见证。此乃英属东南亚极具历史意义之重要纸钞，对研究佔领区与光复货币之专家尤具特殊价值。
Purple on pink and multicoloured underprint. Portrait of Charles Vyner Brooke at left, state arms at centre, denomination at the corners. Reverse in purple with large numeral 5 and ornamental guilloche. A fully printed example of the emergency issue prepared during the Japanese occupation for intended release upon liberation.During the final phase of the Second World War, British authorities undertook extensive preparations to restore civil administration across Southeast Asia. In territories occupied by Japan, rapidly depreciating military currency had displaced established local issues. In anticipation of Allied success, replacement currencies were designed and printed in advance so that sound money could be introduced immediately upon liberation. Notes were prepared for Malaya (dated 1942), the Netherlands East Indies (dated 1943), the Philippines, and Sarawak, among others.Sarawak had fallen to Japanese forces in early 1942. Its prewar notes were backed by government funds held in London and were fully redeemable there, a factor that distinguished them from certain neighbouring issues in British North Borneo.
During the occupation, plans were made in Britain for a new Sarawak series bearing the portrait of Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke, the last of the White Rajahs. The present 5 Dollars forms part of that wartime printing, believed to have been executed by Bradbury Wilkinson & Company in 1944 or 1945. The firm was approached regarding its records of this issue, but apparently, they had all been lost or destroyed. They had no information.Although Japan surrendered in August 1945 and British military administration was quickly established, the prepared Sarawak notes were not placed into circulation. Malayan fractional currency initially served immediate needs. Vyner Brooke returned to Kuching in April 1946, but the severe economic strain of occupation and reconstruction weighed heavily on the small state. On 1 July 1946 he ceded Sarawak to the British Crown, ending more than a century of Brooke rule and inaugurating Crown Colony status.Archival material later revealed that consideration was still being given to issuing these notes several years after the war.
A Bradbury Wilkinson archival photograph of the 5 Dollars, dated 1 July 1949 and bearing a low serial number, held at the United Kingdom National Archives, suggests that placing these notes into circulation was still considered several years after they were initially prepared. Ultimately, however, Sarawak joined the Malayan currency system, and with the establishment of the Board of Commissioners of Currency of Malaya and British Borneo on 1 January 1952, the planned Sarawak issue was definitively abandoned.The 5 Dollar note offered in the present lot was once part of a group that also included the 1 Dollar and 10 Dollar of the A series and the 1, 5, and 10 Dollar of the B series (in differing colors) which were first recorded in the celebrated collection of Dr. Chan Chin Cheung and illustrated in his 1991 reference Paper Currencies of the Straits Settlements, Malaya, British North Borneo, Sarawak, and Brunei: The Collection of Dr. Chan Chin Cheung. This is the Chan plate note on page 194, and thus has a fabulous pedigree. In fact, all but perhaps one of the known notes of this planned issue were in the Chan collection, thus this is one.
In addition there may be the one piece seen during the 1980s at Muzium Sarawak with Lucas Chin, Director.Following the dispersal of the Chan Collection, the group entered a long-held private collection. Little is known about these extremely rare specimens. An example, possibly a reproduction, was displayed at one point in a glazed frame at the Sarawak Museum, though its present whereabouts are unknown. Surviving documentation is limited, as Bradbury Wilkinson & Company is believed to have lost or disposed of many relevant production records, and no clear reference to this printing has been identified in the firms surviving archives. The A and B series sets, along with a small number of archival photographs and associated records, therefore constitute the principal evidence for this remarkable and historically significant issue prepared during the Japanese occupation for intended postwar circulation.Serial A/3 000,000 indicates a third million block, though the total quantity printed remains uncertain. Very few examples escaped destruction, and survivors represent tangible evidence of Sarawaks final independent currency project during a moment of profound political transition. An important and historic note of British Southeast Asia, of exceptional interest to specialists in occupation and liberation issues.
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