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DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN OVERPRINTS
The official Treasury minute in the Public Record Office states that the £1 and 10s currency banknotes were issued for use by the entire British Military Expeditionary Forces in the Mediterranean and the Naval Expeditionary Forces from May to June 1915. The banknotes we now know were overprinted from May to November 1915 (Inland Revenue records state 21st May 1915), being sent only to Alexandria, some arriving after the Gallipoli campaign (19th February 1915 to 9th January 1916) had ended on 9th January 1916. 240,000 £1 were sent and 1,620,000 10s. S and T prefix £1’s were also printed and later destroyed as were W and X 10s. Prefixes used for T14 £1 overprinting were drawn from the print run of T11-1 and T15 10s from T13-1.
Dardanelles 10s prefixes issued and the actual serial tranches Overprinted in 1915.
Prefixes |
Lowest |
Highest |
Total Issued |
None seen * |
Y/1 to Y/30 |
018501 |
019000 |
15,000 |
|
|
025001 |
025500 |
15,000 |
* |
|
034501 |
035000 |
15,000 |
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040501 |
044000 |
105,000 |
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045001 |
047000 |
60,000 |
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047501 |
049000 |
45,000 |
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080501 |
086000 |
165,000 |
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093001 |
094000 |
30,000 |
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094001 |
094500 |
10,000 |
* Y/1 to Y/30 cancelled |
|
094501 |
100000 |
165,000 |
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Z/1 to Z/30 |
010001 |
010500 |
15,000 |
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012001 |
012500 |
15,000 |
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014501 |
016500 |
60,000 |
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017001 |
017500 |
10,000 |
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018001 |
020000 |
60,000 |
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022501 |
024000 |
45,000 |
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024501 |
025000 |
15,000 |
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027001 |
028000 |
30,000 |
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038001 |
038500 |
15,000 |
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039501 |
041000 |
45,000 |
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043001 |
044500 |
45,000 |
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045501 |
046500 |
30,000 |
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047001 |
047500 |
15,000 |
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093001 |
096500 |
105,000 |
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096501 |
097000 |
15,000 |
* cancelled |
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097001 |
100000 |
90,000 |
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Total |
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1,240,000 |
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W/1 to W/30, W/61 to W/90 and X/1 to X/90 printed some transported, all later destroyed. A few W and X prefixes delivered Alexandria, but were probably never issued.
The translation of the Arabic characters reads (from right to left):
Piastres silver 60 / Piastres silver sixty
Any prefix / serial not listed is a fake.
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