5 Pounds

Zambia's independence on 24 October 1964 required an immediate replacement for Northern Rhodesian currency, and the Bank of Zambia stood up its first note series within weeks of the country's formal establishment. These pounds were transitional by design — Zambia retained sterling denominations only until 1968, when the kwacha and ngwee system replaced them entirely, making the entire pound series short-lived by policy rather than circumstance.

De La Rue produced the notes in London under considerable time pressure. The tight window between independence declaration and currency deployment left little room for elaborate security refinement — watermarking was the primary protection, with no metallic thread in the paper.