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50 Birr Arms with gear
| Issuer | National Bank of Ethiopia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1991 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Birrs (፭፻፡ብር) (50 ETB) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ፶፡ብር የኢትዮጵያ ብሔራዊ ባንክ National Bank of Ethiopia መስከረም፡፲፱፻፷፱፡ዓ፡ም፡ አምሳ፡ብር፡ FIFTY BIRR የኢትዮጵያ፡ሕጋዊ፡ገንዘብ LEGAL TENDER IN ETHIOPIA ኢትዮጵያ ትቅደም ETHIOPIA TIKDEM 50 (Translation: 50 Birr National Bank of Ethiopia September 1969 A.M. Fifty Birr Legal Tender in Ethiopia Ethiopia First) |
| Reverse description | The central vignette presents an intaglio engraving of the Royal Enclosure (Fasil Ghebbi) castle complex at Gondar, with its distinctive cylindrical towers and crenellated battlements rendered in fine detail. To the upper right, the Ethiopian state arms incorporating a gear and star device appears within a guilloche rosette, while a traditional krar lyre is illustrated in multicolour to the left. The denomination '50' and Amharic legend are repeated in the top and bottom border bands, framed by interlaced guilloche ornament. |
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| Comments |
Ethiopia's Derg regime collapsed in May 1991, and this note sits awkwardly at that fault line — issued by the National Bank under a government that had already fallen by the time many notes reached circulation. The "Arms with gear" designation distinguishes it from earlier Haile Selassie-era types and from the post-Derg redesigns that followed quickly once the transitional government moved to purge socialist imagery from the currency.
Thomas De La Rue produced the series with a single watermark as the primary security measure — modest by the printer's own standards for the period.