Samoan pound
Encyclopedia
The pound was the currency of Western Samoa between 1914 and 1967. It was subdivided into 20 shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

s, each of 12 pence
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...

.

History

In 1914, following the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 occupation of German Samoa, the pound sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

 replaced the German mark
German gold mark
The Goldmark was the currency used in the German Empire from 1873 to 1914.-History:Before unification, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16⅔ grams of pure silver...

 as the currency of the territory. When the New Zealand pound
New Zealand pound
The pound was the currency of New Zealand between 1840 and 1967. Like the British pound, it was subdivided into 20 shillings each of 12 pence. As a result of the great depression of the early 1930s, the New Zealand agricultural export market to the UK was badly affected...

 broke its parity with the pound sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

 in 1930 at the beginning of the great depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 , the Samoan unit followed the same course as the New Zealand pound
New Zealand pound
The pound was the currency of New Zealand between 1840 and 1967. Like the British pound, it was subdivided into 20 shillings each of 12 pence. As a result of the great depression of the early 1930s, the New Zealand agricultural export market to the UK was badly affected...

. There were no special issues of sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

 coinage issued for Western Samoa. The circulating coinage was originally United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 coinage and from 1934 it became predominantly the new New Zealand coinage.
When New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 decimalized its currency in 1967, the Western Samoan pound was replaced by the tala
Samoan tala
The tālā is the currency of Samoa. It is divided into 100 sene. The terms tālā and sene are the equivalents or transliteration of the English words dollar and cent, in the Samoan language....

, at a rate of 1 pound = 2 tala.

For a more general view of history in the wider region, see The Pound Sterling in Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania.

Banknotes

In 1915, the first, provisional notes (dated 1914 but issued 1915) were issued by the New Zealand Occupying Military force. These were overprinted one pound and five pound notes of the Bank of New Zealand signed by Lt. Colonel Logan. Overprinted Ten shillings notes of the Bank of New Zealand were added in 1920. In 1922, Treasury Notes were issued "by the authority of the New Zealand Government" in denominations of 10 shillings, 1 and 5 pounds. These notes were issued until 1961, when the Bank of Western Samoa took over paper money issuance. The Bank's first issues were overprints on the Treasury Notes. In 1963, regular type notes were introduced in the same denominations.

External links

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