Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Cents
| Issuer | Bank of Sierra Leone |
|---|---|
| Year | 1980 |
| Type | Commemorative banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANK OF SIERRA LEONE PROMISE TO PAY ON DEMAND THE SUM OF COMMEMORATING THE ORGANISATION OF AFRICAN UNITY CONFERENCE FREETOWN 1980 1ST JULY 1980 GOVERNOR DEPUTY GOVERNOR DIRECTORS FIFTY CENTS |
| 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. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| 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.