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500 Florins / 50 Pounds - George V
| Issuer | East African Currency Board |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Florins |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Portrait of King George V in a circular vignette at upper centre, set within an elaborate guilloche border. The denomination appears in large numerals and lettering at centre, with the value repeated in Arabic script below; the issuing authority name spans the top in bold letterpress. Dated 'Mombasa, 1st May 1920' at lower left, with two manuscript signatures of Members of the East African Currency Board at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | FIVE HUNDRED FLORINS OR FIFTY POUNDS |
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| Comments |
The East African Currency Board's early high-denomination notes were instruments of colonial commerce, not retail banking — a 50-pound note in 1920 East Africa was a wholesale trading instrument, moving between merchants, settlers, and the agricultural export trade rather than passing through ordinary hands. The dual-denomination labeling reflects the transitional monetary moment: the florin unit had been the board's original accounting currency, still retained on the face alongside sterling equivalents to ease ledger continuity for established firms.
Bradbury Wilkinson produced the series to a high security standard, as they did for most Crown colony issues of the period. Surviving examples are genuinely rare — face value alone would have made these notes objects of careful custody, and few were ever casually circulated.