The Emergency Currency of Cyprus , WWII.

 

Cyprus , a large island in the far northeastern part of the Mediterranean , was a major source of copper in ancient times - and derived its name from this fact: "Kypros", then. At the outbreak of the First World War, it was a Turkish possession but immediately taken by the British, their ownership confirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1925 when Cyprus became a British Crown Colony and continuing as such until the Republic of Cyprus was declared on 16 August 1960. The island's strategic position - commanding the Greek, Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean shores as well as the entrance to the Suez Canal - soon made it a base of British military and naval forces. It was the requirements of these latter that placed such pressure on the currency of Cyprus during the Second World War.

At the outbreak, the currency of Cyprus was quite straightforward: Government of Cyprus notes in denominations of 10/, £1 and £5; sterling silver coins in denominations of 18-, 9- and 4 ½ piastres (the equivalent of 2/, 1/ and 6d sterling respectively); and copper-nickel pieces of 1- and ½ -piastres.

But while much of the English public may have been taken in by the false "Peace in our time" Munich Agreement of 1938, many in the Colonial Office and their subordinates in the field were not. With a clear memory of the turmoil in metallic currency caused by the outbreak of the First World War, the Cyprus officials opted for prudence. Accordingly, quantities of smaller-denomination notes - 5/, 2/ and 1/ - were ordered from Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. of London and although dated 3 January 1939 , were not immediately released but kept in storage. Just in case. It was well they did; immediately after the war broke out, these notes began to be released ( 9 September 1939 ).

 

 

1942 was the year in which the first severe strains began to show in the Cyprus currency system and, oddly, it first appeared not in the small denominations as might be expected, but rather in the large notes. In early May, the British Army Cashier placed a requisition with the Army's designated bank, The Ottoman Bank, for £60,000 but with but £25,000 on hand and in its branches of the required notes, the Bank was unable to comply. Consequently, permission was sought and granted to import notes of £1 and £5 denomination of the Palestine Currency Board for the remaining £35,000. By Governor's Regulation of 5 May 1942, the Palestine notes were made legal tender in Cyprus and continued until further supplies from England were received, after which they were rapidly demonetized and withdrawn (17 November 1942). It would appear, however, that the Palestine notes were mostly used in and near the Army camps and that few passed into general Cypriot circulation. Except that they were almost certainly of the " April 20th, 1939 " issue (the most recently that had been made), we have no way of telling which notes circulated in Cyprus and which in Palestine only. Either the recording of the pertinent serial numbers was never made or has since been lost; in any case, we do not know today.

 

This was also the year that saw the demise of the silver coins. Until 1941, silversmiths and jewellers on the island had been able to make do with the silver bullion on hand or imported. But the supplies dwindled even as demand for their wares increased and their raw material became the circulating silver coin. By mid-1942, their disappearance was apparent and the government made the matters even worse by passing a law ( 14 September 1942 ) prohibiting the melting down or "improper use" of the silver coin. This served only to alert the public that silver was becoming scarce and just-like-that, all the rest disappeared into hoards. There was now no currency denomination between the 1 piastre and paper shilling (or 9-piastre). Thrown on their own resources, the people began to pass mint postage stamps as currency - generally the 1-, 3- and 4 ½ -piastre values.

But even this soon wore thin as the postal stock dwindled even though this increasingly "ratty" currency remained until June/July 1943. Even worse, the entire shipment of 1942-dated bronze 1- and ½ -piastre coins was sunk on the way to Cyprus (notification given in January, 1943) and the Royal Mint was scrambling to replace it with an identical mintage although nothing could be expected until March.

 

 

With his back to the wall, the Treasurer was forced to rather extraordinary expedients. On 28 January 1943 , he proposed that a quantity of 1-shilling notes (which were in good supply in stock) be overprinted with a value of 4 ½ -piastres (or 6d). However, this denomination was inconvenient both for the banks and Army, the latter making payments to the troops in multiples of 3-piastres. For that reason, the proposal was amended to the new value (30th January) and authorization given by the governor on 16 February 1943 .

The notes in question had their "One Shilling" values in English, Greek and Turkish crossed out and replaced with the new "Three Piastres" value in the same three languages. Additionally, a large "3" was printed in each face corner - as it was on the back which also displayed a huge central "3".

 

The note was far from a success. In only 9 days it was being withdrawn and demonetized. The reason was simple: enterprising and larcenous persons soon found that the overprint could be quite nicely removed with benzene, the note then passed for triple its former value. The notes are rare today. All such notes were of the " 30th August 1941 " issue and all were of the C/3 serial number prefix (probably all beginning with a "4")

 

 

 

A new type of 3-piastre emergency note was immediately introduced. Still of the same issue date and serial number prefix as before, this time the former shilling note was cut so that the right 2/5th, including the serial number and signature, was retained and the left 3/5th including the King's portrait was discarded and destroyed. The face of the new cut note simply had the Turkish denomination crossed out and the 1/ at top and bottom replaced by a "3"; the back also had two "3"s added as well as "Three Piastres" in English, Greek and Turkish, one under the other as well as the date "1 March 1943". At the same time, an urgent request went out to England for a supply of printed fractional notes of a 3-piastre denomination. This was complied with, the Bradbury Wilkinson Company of London supplying the first dated 18 June 1943 . In all, there were four issues of this little blue note: 18 June 1943 (series index A/1); 6th April 1944 (series index A/2); 15 September 1944 (series index A/3) and 25 November 1944 (series index A/4). Each issue consisted of 500,000 notes and, so far as we know, the last two were never released.

 

Quite possibly there was plenty of available circulating currency once the large British armed forces were withdrawn after the war. In any case, Cyprus never again issued a denomination between the 1-piastre and the shilling (9-piastre) for the rest of George's reign - in fact, not until 1955. The war had been a stretch but, in the best British tradition, they had muddled through.

Wayne Jacobs is a numismatic expert. Currently secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia, he is the award winning author of numerous articles. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.