50 Rupees - Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah NRB Golden Jubilee

Nepal Rastra Bank's fiftieth anniversary fell in 2005 during one of the most turbulent periods in modern Nepali history — the Maoist insurgency was at its peak, King Gyanendra had dismissed the elected government and assumed direct rule in February of that year, and the country was nominally under royal autocracy when this commemorative note entered circulation. The Golden Jubilee issue was, in that sense, a political statement as much as a banking milestone.

Giesecke & Devrient have printed Nepali currency since the early series, making their continued involvement with this jubilee issue unremarkable — but the Bhattarai signature is notable, as he served as governor through an exceptionally difficult transitional stretch before the 2006 peace process.