10000 Meticais

Mozambique's 1991 10,000 Meticais note arrived during a period of severe economic strain — the metical had been in freefall since the mid-1980s, and this denomination, unthinkable at independence, was by then barely sufficient for routine transactions. The government had already launched a structural adjustment program under IMF pressure in 1987, which stabilized little and alienated much.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement here is unremarkable for the region — they printed extensively for Lusophone Africa throughout this period. What the watermark security offered against a backdrop of institutional collapse is another question.