500 Birr / Ethiopian Dollars

The State Bank of Ethiopia was a short-lived institution — established in 1942 and dissolved in 1963 when its functions were split between the newly created Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and the National Bank of Ethiopia. This note falls near the end of that window, issued under an arrangement where the State Bank still held the monopoly on currency emission but was already operating in the knowledge of its own impending dissolution.

Bradbury Wilkinson printed Ethiopian currency through most of Haile Selassie's reign. The 500 Birr denomination was the highest in the series, making circulated survivors relatively uncommon — high-value notes in developing economies often returned to banks quickly or were hoarded rather than worn through daily use.