5 Taka

Bangladesh declared independence in March 1971, but the new state's first banknotes weren't issued until 1972 — the currency infrastructure had to be built from nothing while the country was still recovering from one of the deadliest conflicts of the twentieth century. Bradbury Wilkinson, a well-regarded British security printer with deep experience across former Commonwealth territories, was a logical first choice for a new central bank without domestic printing capacity.

P#13 circulated across two distinct signature combinations, reflecting early staff turnover at Bangladesh Bank during its formative years. The watermark is the sole security feature — modest by later standards, but typical of the constraints on a newly sovereign issuer placing its first printing contracts abroad.