100 Ouguiya

Pick 1 is the founding note of the Mauritanian currency system. The ouguiya was introduced on 29 June 1973 when Mauritania withdrew from the West African CFA franc zone, a monetary separation that followed the country's exit from the Franc Zone entirely. The timing was deliberately timed to coincide with national economic policy shifts under Mokhtar Ould Daddah's government, which sought full control over monetary policy ahead of the iron ore revenue negotiations that defined that decade.

Banque de France printings for newly independent francophone states in this period frequently used security specifications derived from French metropolitan notes — the watermark technology here is consistent with that house style. First-series Mauritanian notes are genuinely scarce in circulated grades because distribution infrastructure outside Nouakchott was limited at launch.