500 Shillings

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 following the collapse of the Barre government, but has never received formal international recognition. Issuing its own currency was a practical act of state-building — the shilling series gave the administration a functional medium of exchange and a visible assertion of separate identity, regardless of its legal standing abroad.

Pick 6 ran across a remarkably long print window, with dates spanning nearly two decades. Notes from the later years of the series show noticeably lighter impression quality compared to the earlier printings — a detail worth checking when dating an undated or ambiguously dated example.