Catalog
5 Birr / Ethiopian Dollars
| Issuer | State Bank of Ethiopia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1956-1959 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | የኢትዮጵያ፡መንግስት፡ባንክ፡ አምስት፡የኢትዮጵያ፡ብር፡ Five Ethiopian Dollars ላምጪው፡አንዴከፈል፡ሕግ፡ያሰገዽዷል። Payable to the Bearer on Demand State Bank of Ethiopia (Translation: State Bank of Ethiopia Five Ethiopian Birr Payable to the Bearer on Demand) |
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| Protection description | Emperor Haile Selassie I portrait, visible when held to light |
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| Comments |
The State Bank of Ethiopia was itself a transitional institution — established in 1942 as both the central bank and the commercial bank of the country, it was eventually split into two separate entities in 1963. These notes fall squarely in that window when a single body handled the full range of banking functions for the empire. Bradbury Wilkinson, the New Malden firm with longstanding contracts across African and Asian colonial and post-colonial issuers, produced the series under Pick 19 to a specification that retained the dual "Birr/Ethiopian Dollars" denomination wording — an acknowledgment of both domestic and foreign-facing usage.
The Ethiopian Dollar was pegged at 2 to the U.S. dollar throughout this period, a rate Haile Selassie's government maintained with some difficulty amid growing import costs.