1000 Shilingi - Gold Kigoma

Tanzania's 2021 gold-deposited polymer 1000 Shilingi is part of a small but growing category of numismatic-grade circulating issues that use physical metal deposition directly onto the polymer substrate — not foil application, but a genuine thin-layer gold process. The "Kigoma" designation ties this note to the regional series the Bank of Tanzania introduced to celebrate the country's lake regions, with Kigoma sitting on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika.

Gold-deposited polymer remains rare in African central bank issuance. The technique was pioneered commercially by Note Printing Australia and has appeared in only a handful of sovereign issues worldwide prior to Tanzania adopting it here.