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20 Shillings 1996 Silver Commemorative Issue
| Issuer | Baanka Somaliland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1996 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 120 × 53 mm |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANKAA SOMALILAND LABAATAN SL SHILIN SOMALILAND 20 SHILLINGS ٢٠شن Sanad Gurada 5ee Gobanjmadda 18 May 1996 (Translation: Bank of Somaliland Twenty Somaliland Shillings. 5th Anniversary of Independence 18 May 1996) |
| Reverse description | The central field carries a camel caravan vignette in which two nomadic figures lead three camels across an open landscape, with the twin Naasa Hablood hills — the 'Girl's Breast' hills near Hargeisa — rendered in the background. Trilingual legends in Somali, English, and Arabic are arranged across the upper and lower registers, with the denomination repeated in both Western and Arabic numerals. |
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| Comments |
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but no UN member state has ever formally recognized it. That political limbo shapes everything about its currency — the shilling series exists entirely outside international monetary frameworks, produced by a government that, legally speaking, most of the world treats as a regional administration of a failed state. The 1996 issues appeared while the country was still rebuilding basic infrastructure following the civil war's destruction of Hargeisa.
The "silver commemorative" designation on a paper note is essentially a marketing classification, not a metallurgical one — common in small-state issues targeting the collector market rather than daily commerce.