5 Pounds L. 1985

Sudan's 1985 issue came at a moment of acute political rupture — the year General Siwar al-Dahab's transitional military council ousted Nimeiry after sixteen years in power. Whether notes of this series were already in production before the coup or deliberately continued through it is not documented in available sources, but the timing meant these circulated under two very different political administrations within a single year.

Thomas De La Rue's involvement with Sudanese currency stretched back decades, making this a routine production contract rather than a new relationship. The watermark remains the sole security feature — modest by any measure for a mid-1980s issue.