200 Shillings / 10 Pounds - George V

The East African Currency Board was established in 1919 to provide a unified currency across British East Africa, replacing the rupee-based system that had served the region since the Imperial British East Africa Company era. This note, denominated in the transitional dual-unit system — shillings alongside pounds sterling — reflects the deliberate policy of shifting East African commerce away from the rupee toward a sterling-linked currency. The 1921 dating places it among the earliest issues of the new Board.

De La Rue's production for colonial currency boards in this period was prolific, but East African Board notes from this first series are genuinely scarce in any condition, largely because the tropical climate destroyed paper currency at a rate that astonished colonial administrators tasked with maintaining adequate supply.