Catalog
5 Shillings
| Issuer | Central Bank of Nigeria |
|---|---|
| Year | 1965 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Shillings (1/4) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central intaglio vignette of a timber logging scene in which workers roll and handle large felled tree trunks along a riverbank, with palm trees and tropical vegetation visible in the background. The design is executed in purple tones on a lightly guilloched ground, with the denomination numeral 5/- appearing in circular cartouches at left and right. The issuer name and value inscription are set in letterpress above and below the central vignette respectively. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | a star pattern visible in the circular blank field on the obverse right |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Nigeria's first post-independence banknote series, of which this is part, was introduced in 1965 to replace the West African Currency Board issues that had circulated across British West Africa as a shared regional currency. The break was politically deliberate — Lagos wanted a distinctly Nigerian instrument, not a colonial holdover shared with Ghana, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.
Thomas De La Rue produced the entire series, a common arrangement for newly independent Commonwealth states that lacked domestic printing infrastructure. The 5 Shilling denomination survived only until 1973, when Nigeria decimalized and replaced shillings with kobo, making this a short-lived type within an already brief series run.