Catalog
10 Thalers / Birr
| Issuer | Bank of Ethiopia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1932-1935 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Birr / Thalers (አስር፡ብር) |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a leopard in a naturalistic setting, flanked at left by an intaglio vignette of the Lion of Judah standing on a plinth and at right by a vignette of the Bank of Ethiopia building in Addis Ababa. The upper portion carries the bank title in English and Amharic script within a decorative guilloche banner, with denomination panels in ornate cartouches at each corner. Date and place of issue appear at right, with two manuscript signatures below, the right one annotated 'GOUVERNEUR / አዛዥ'. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | ፲ የኢትዮጵያ፡ባንክ። ፲ BRADBURY WILKINSON & Cᵒ Lᵗᵈ ENGRAVERS, LONDON (Translation: 10 Bank of Ethiopia 10) |
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| Comments |
The Bank of Ethiopia, established in 1931 as the first indigenous bank on the continent owned and operated by an African government, issued this series in a narrow window before the Italian invasion of October 1935. Haile Selassie had pushed hard for monetary independence from the Bank of Egypt's predecessor arrangements, and this note series was a direct product of that effort — printed in London by Bradbury Wilkinson, whose intaglio security work was then standard for colonial and post-colonial issuers across Africa and Asia.
When Italian forces occupied Addis Ababa in 1936, remaining stocks were either destroyed or seized. Notes that had circulated were suppressed in favor of the Italian East African lira. Surviving examples of this series are accordingly scarce, particularly in any grade above heavily used.