Story: Coins and banknotes

Second series of banknotes: £10 (4th of 5)

Second series of banknotes: £10

The £10 banknote in the second series was a new denomination. It is green. The obverse side is the same as the second-series £50. It contains the coat of arms within the border, a ship (the foresail of which is the watermark panel) behind a Māori waka (canoe), and James Cook within an oval laurel-leaf frame. The border is acanthus leaves, and the denomination appears in numerals and in words within rectangles on three corners.

Alongside an oval watermark panel, the main image on the reverse is a farming scene with a flock of sheep milling around cabbage trees. The large border comprises Māori and European iconography and contains the bank’s legend on the top, mamaku tree ferns on the sides and the denomination in words on the bottom. The denomination in numerals caps each corner.

Using this item

Reserve Bank of New Zealand

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Kerryn Pollock, 'Coins and banknotes - A national currency, 1930s to 1960s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/object/36396/second-series-of-banknotes-ps10 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Kerryn Pollock, published 20 Jun 2012