Malaya - 1 Dollar - P-11 - 1941 dated Foreign Paper Money

$1, 1 July 1941, P-11. The Malayan dollar was the currency of the British colonies & protectorates in Malaya & Brunei until 1953. It was introduced in 1939, replacing the Straits dollar at par, with a value of 1 dollar equal to two shillings & four pence sterling (60 dollars equaled 7 pounds).

In 1940, banknotes in denominations of 1, 5, & 10 dollars were printed in the UK for circulation in Malaya. Of the 27 million one-dollar notes & 5.6 million five-dollar notes dispatched to Malaya before the Japanese invasion, 25.8 million one-dollar notes & 5 million five-dollar notes successfully arrived. The remaining 700,000 one-dollar notes & 500,000 five-dollar notes were lost when the SS Automedon was captured & later scuttled by the German raider Atlantis on November 11, 1940, in the Indian Ocean near the Malacca Straits. An additional 500,000 one-dollar notes & 100,000 five-dollar notes were lost when the SS Eumanes was sunk. None of these one or five-dollar notes were ever circulated by the Straits Settlements Government. Only the 10-dollar notes were issued for use in Malaya in March 1941.