Catalog
100 Shillings / 5 Pounds
| Issuer | West African Currency Board |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | FIVE POUNDS ISSUED BY THE WEST AFRICAN CURRENCY BOARD These notes are legal tender for the payment of any amount. Lagos 1st March, 1919 £5 FIVE POUNDS 100 SHILLINGS MEMBERS OF THE WEST AFRICAN CURRENCY BOARD |
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| Variants | P#6a - uniface P#6b - Arabic script on back |
| Comments |
The West African Currency Board was established in 1912 to manage a unified currency across British West Africa — Nigeria, Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia — replacing the chaotic mix of foreign coins and trade currencies that had frustrated commerce for decades. This 1919 note enters circulation almost immediately after the First World War, a period when WACB was still refining its supply logistics; notes printed in London had to survive long sea voyages before reaching branch offices in Lagos or Accra, and humidity damage on arrival was a genuine operational concern.
Waterlow & Sons had been printing currency for British colonial territories since the mid-nineteenth century. The dual denomination — 100 Shillings alongside 5 Pounds — reflects the board's deliberate bridging of local shilling-based trade with sterling-denominated accounting.