Catalog
500 Shillings Silver Commemorative Issue
| Issuer | Baanka Somaliland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1996 |
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| Currency | Shilling (1994-date) |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette shows the main headquarters of Baanka Somaliland in Hargeisa, rendered in a blue intaglio-style illustration framed by an arched guilloche border with the denomination numeral 500 in Arabic script at upper left and right corners. The bank name BAANKA SOMALILAND arches across the top in large blue lettering, with the denomination 500 SOMALILAND SHILLINGS appearing at lower left and right. A commemorative overprint in red acknowledges the 5th Anniversary of Independence, 18 May 1996. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BAANKA SOMALILAND SHAN BOOQOL SL SHILIN FIVE HUNDRED SOMALILAND SHILLINGS ٥٠٠ شن Sanad Gurada 5ee Gobanjmadda 18 May 1996 HARGEYSA 1994 (Translation: Bank of Somaliland Five Hundred Somaliland Shillings. 5th Anniversary of Independence 18 May 1996) |
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| Comments |
Somaliland's 1996 commemorative issue arrived just five years after the self-declared republic broke from the collapsed Somali state — a government printing money for a country unrecognized by any other. The 500 Shillings denomination was part of a broader effort to establish functioning monetary infrastructure under conditions of near-total international isolation.
The "Silver Commemorative" designation distinguishes this from the standard circulation series, though the practical boundary between commemorative and everyday use was thin in a cash economy with few alternatives. Pick 19 is not among the easier Somaliland notes to source in sound condition.