Catalog
5 Thalers / Birr
| Issuer | Bank of Ethiopia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1932-1933 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a Greater Kudu, its head turned forward, occupies the middle of the note, flanked at right by a resting lion and at left by a vignette of the Bank of Ethiopia building in Addis Ababa. The date and place of issue appear at upper right, with bilingual inscriptions in French and Ge'ez script throughout. Numeral 5 appears in each lower corner within ornamental guilloche panels, and the note carries a manuscript signature of the Governor below the central vignette. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | የኢትዮጵያ፡ባንክ። 5 አምስት፡ብር። ፭ (Translation: Bank of Ethiopia Five Birr 5) |
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The Bank of Ethiopia, established in 1931 as the first indigenous bank on the African continent, issued this note under Haile Selassie's early consolidation of state financial institutions — breaking a decades-long grip that the Bank of Abyssinia (a foreign-controlled concession) had held over Ethiopian currency. The dual denomination in Thalers and Birr reflects the transition period, with the Maria Theresa Thaler still functioning as the dominant trade coin in circulation alongside the domestically issued paper.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced the series at New Malden. Within four years of issue, Italian invasion and occupation rendered the entire Bank of Ethiopia note series void, and surviving examples were never redeemable.