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2 Leones
| Issuer | Bank of Sierra Leone |
|---|---|
| Year | 1974-1985 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Red intaglio print on a light guilloche underprint. A three-quarter portrait vignette of President Siaka Stevens in traditional cap occupies the left portion of the note, with the denomination numeral '2' repeated at each corner within ornate geometric borders. To the right, facsimile signatures of the Governor, Deputy Governor, and two Directors appear above a circular guilloche rosette, with the issue date printed at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Red intaglio print on a multicolour guilloche underprint. The central vignette presents a detailed architectural rendering of the Bank of Sierra Leone headquarters in Freetown, rendered in perspective with figures on the foreground steps. The national coat of arms appears in an oval cartouche at upper right, while a large circular guilloche watermark space is positioned to the left; the denomination legend is set at the bottom centre flanked by interlocking geometric ornaments. |
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| Comments |
Sierra Leone's first decade of note issues was handled entirely by Thomas De La Rue, a relationship that gave the early series a visual and technical consistency unusual for a newly independent central bank still building its monetary infrastructure. The 2 Leones denomination sat at the practical heart of daily commerce during a period when the leone itself was under sustained pressure — by the early 1980s, inflation and a collapsing terms-of-trade position tied to falling iron ore and diamond export revenues had already begun eroding real purchasing power well below face value.
Pick 6 runs across a production window of over a decade, meaning date varieties exist and are worth distinguishing — later printings within the series occasionally show subtle tonal shifts in the security paper.