20 Rupees

Zanzibar maintained its own currency administration entirely separately from British East Africa, despite the protectorate relationship established in 1890. The Government of Zanzibar — not a commercial bank — issued these notes directly, an arrangement that persisted because the sultanate's trade economy, heavily tied to clove exports and Indian Ocean commerce, operated on different rhythms than the mainland.

Waterlow & Sons handled the printing across a span of two decades without a redesign, which accounts for the wide date range on a single Pick number. Serial letter prefixes were the primary means of distinguishing print runs.