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5 Shillings - George V
| Issuer | East African Currency Board |
|---|---|
| Year | 1933 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | P#20 |
| Obverse description | The note is printed in brown and yellow tones with an elaborate guilloche border framing the entire face. The large numeral '5' appears as an intaglio vignette at left, flanked by the denomination in English and in Arabic and Hindi scripts across the centre. A right-facing portrait of King George V is set within a circular vignette at lower right, with the date '1st January 1933' and the place of issue 'Nairobi' inscribed below the central text panel, accompanied by three facsimile signatures of the Members of the East African Currency Board. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | FIVE SHILLINGS FIVE SHILLINGS |
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| Comments |
The East African Currency Board was a British colonial monetary authority serving Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar — a single currency zone unusual in its breadth and longevity. This 1933 issue sits in a narrow window: the EACB had consolidated its position after the post-WWI inflations but was already beginning to feel pressure from the 1930s depression that hammered commodity prices across East Africa, particularly sisal, coffee, and cotton.
De La Rue's involvement with the EACB series was continuous from the earliest issues, giving the run a consistency of paper and print quality rare in colonial currency of the period. The P#20 is among the scarcer interwar denominations in circulated grades — the 5 Shilling value was a working note, not a reserve one.