The West African Currency Board was established in 1912 to manage a common currency across British West Africa — Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia — replacing a chaotic mix of local and imported coinage. This note belongs to the Board's earliest paper issues, produced during wartime when shipping disruptions and metal shortages made coinage supply increasingly difficult across the region.
Waterlow & Sons had the contract from the outset. The P#4 series is notably scarce in any condition; wartime attrition, tropical humidity, and the Board's own redemption and destruction policies combined to eliminate most of the original print run.
The West African Currency Board was established in 1912 to manage a common currency across British West Africa — Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia — replacing a chaotic mix of local and imported coinage. This note belongs to the Board's earliest paper issues, produced during wartime when shipping disruptions and metal shortages made coinage supply increasingly difficult across the region.
Waterlow & Sons had the contract from the outset. The P#4 series is notably scarce in any condition; wartime attrition, tropical humidity, and the Board's own redemption and destruction policies combined to eliminate most of the original print run.