Catalog
| Issuer | State Bank of Ethiopia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945-1956 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | የኢትዮጵያ፡መንግስት፡ባንክ፡ አሥር፡የኢትዮጵያ፡ብር፡ ላምጪው፡አንዴከፈል፡ሕግ፡ያሰገዽዷል። STATE BANK OF ETHIOPIA TEN ETHIOPIAN DOLLARS (Translation: State Bank of Ethiopia Ten Ethiopian Birr Payable to the Bearer on Demand) |
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| Reverse lettering | ፲፡ብር አሥር፡የኢትዮጵያ፡ብር፡ (Translation: 10 Birr Ten Ethiopian Birr) |
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| Comments |
Ethiopia's postwar monetary infrastructure was thin, and the State Bank of Ethiopia — established in 1942 as a joint venture with the National Bank of Egypt — served simultaneously as central and commercial bank until the two functions were formally separated in 1963. The dual denomination on this note, pairing Birr with Ethiopian Dollars, reflects a deliberate transitional nomenclature: the Maria Theresa thaler had dominated Ethiopian commerce for centuries, and local acceptance of a paper birr required anchoring it to something already legible to a skeptical public.
Security Banknote Company of Philadelphia printed several African issues during this period, but their Ethiopian work is among the less-documented commissions in the firm's history. Three distinct signature combinations — Blowers, Bennett, and Rozell — indicate the series spans multiple senior appointments at the bank across its eleven-year run.