5 Afghanis

Bradbury Wilkinson printed this note for Afghanistan at a moment when the country was actively modernizing its banking infrastructure under Mohammed Zahir Shah. The 1939 date places production on the eve of the Second World War — a period when BW's New Malden facility was about to pivot heavily toward wartime security printing, making Afghan commissions like this one a lower priority that was completed just in time.

Pick 22 is among the more frequently encountered notes from this pre-war Afghan series, but examples with clean folds are less common than catalog frequency suggests, likely due to the harsh handling conditions of rural Afghan circulation.