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Auction: 21008 - World Banknotes
Lot: 301

The Zanzibar Government, 100 rupees, 1 August 1916, red serial number perforated, blue, pale tan-orange, dhow at left, clove picking at right, ornate background detail, value in orange-brown underprint at low centre, two printed signatures of John Sinclair and Jasper Corbett Davis below
(Pick 6, TBB B106b), The name Zanzibar conjures up visions of sandy beaches, dhows in the sunset, market places teaming with Africans, Arabs and travellers, all with an overlay of the scent of spices. There is something magical in the name and this certainly is true to the banknotes of Zanzibar. Zanzibar stands at the crossroads of Africa and the Arab world as well as having been a British Protectorate. There is therefore a great appeal to collectors of British Colonial currency as well as to collectors of African and Arab currencies. Sadly the notes are few and far between, ask any collector what notes would he most like to own and Zanzibar will rank very high on his list and accordingly few collections can boast an example from the 'Spice Islands'. There was a time (and I have spent a considerable time looking at banknotes) when a 1 rupee was the only note you could reasonably expect to source, now even the 1 rupee is elusive. The 5 and 10 have appeared occasionally and colour trials of the 20 rupee are seen, anything in higher denomination is practically impossible to attain. I have been fortunate in finding complete set up to the 500 rupees many years ago, but that is so wonderful it almost doesn't count and even after 45 years at Spink I cannot think of anything to match that set. All this of course is leading up to the fact that we have an issued 100 rupee note in the auction.
This note was found in the Zanzibar region, originally the note was backed on paper (most likely about a 100 years ago) and had become brittle, paper was removed and the note has been graded and authenticated by PMG. The note looks splendid, of course it is very difficult to be impartial but this note is definitely one of the World's great banknote rarities. On a scale of one to ten an eleven and the expression 'as rare as hens teeth' does not do the note an injustice. I am proud to say I have handled over a few decades some of the rarest notes anyone is likely to see and when I heard of this one I just told the finder 'get it, no ifs or buts, get it'. The note deserves to fetch a great price and find a good home, it's a note you are never likely to see again. An iconic series and truly one of the world's great currency rarities. The lower denominations are much sought after and are all rare, the 100 has never appeared in auction before and is a wonderful note, uniface, perforated CANCELLED, serial numbers perforated in PMG holder 30 NET Very Fine, repaired & reconstructed, a Waterlow and Sons engraving.

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Sold for
£75,000

Starting price
£32000