5 Birr / Ethiopian Dollars

Ethiopia's postwar monetary reconstruction ran through Philadelphia rather than the European printing houses that dominated colonial-era African currency work. The State Bank of Ethiopia itself was established only in 1942, absorbing the functions of the Bank of Ethiopia after the Italian occupation ended — meaning this series represents one of the earliest substantive emissions of a genuinely independent Ethiopian central bank.

Three distinct signature combinations appear across the series, reflecting successive shifts in senior bank appointments between 1945 and 1956. The Blowers signature is the earliest; Rozell the latest.