10 Shillings

The West African Currency Board was a distinctly colonial mechanism — established in 1912, it issued notes backed pound-for-pound by sterling reserves held in London, meaning the territories (Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, The Gambia) exported capital every time currency entered local circulation. The arrangement was profitable for Britain and frequently criticized by economists studying post-war monetary reform in Africa.

Waterlow & Sons held the contract through this entire issue span, a period covering the Depression, the Second World War, and the early stirrings of West African nationalism. The watermark security was modest by contemporary standards, reflecting assumptions about the sophistication of would-be forgers in the region rather than any technical constraint on Waterlow's part.