Catalog
50 Cents
| Issuer | Bank of Sierra Leone |
|---|---|
| Year | 1980 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Leone (1964-2023) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central vignette presents the Bank of Sierra Leone headquarters building in Freetown, rendered in a detailed architectural engraving set against a landscaped background with trees. The national coat of arms appears at upper left, flanked by geometric guilloche patterning at both lateral margins. The inscription 'BANK OF SIERRA LEONE' is lettered across the top, with 'FIFTY CENTS' in a solid panel at the base, and the denomination numeral '50' repeated at each upper corner. |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | President Siaka Stevens portrait embedded in the paper visible when held to light. |
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| Comments |
The 50 Cents note was part of the series introduced following Sierra Leone's transition to decimal currency in 1964, though this particular issue dates from well into the post-independence period, when the leone had already begun losing ground to inflation. By the early 1980s, low-denomination fractional notes like this were becoming economically marginal — the leone's purchasing power had eroded enough that 50 cents in paper form was an awkward unit to produce and circulate.
Thomas De La Rue had printed Sierra Leonean currency since the earliest independence-era issues, giving the series a consistent production lineage. P#9 is the last of the fractional cent notes before the denomination was effectively abandoned.