TSh50 — Fifty Shillings
The artwork
Front: Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzania's second president, engraved in red at the right within a guilloche roundel. Left of him the national arms — the Maasai shield, crossed spear and axes, with the motto "Uhuru na Umoja" — set against a field of kanga-like diamond pattern. An Uhuru torch stands at the far left over green leaves. All text is Swahili: "Benki Kuu ya Tanzania", "Shilingi Hamsini", with the Minister of Finance and Governor signing below.
Back: A building site in full swing: masons laying concrete blocks for a house, freshly moulded blocks curing in rows in the foreground, a labourer carrying one on his head, and two men mixing and shovelling. Behind them an outline map of mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar is worked into the background hatching. The Uhuru torch reappears at the right; "Shilingi Hamsini" runs along the foot.
In circulation
Issued in the early 1990s as part of the Mwinyi-portrait family of Bank of Tanzania notes. It was overtaken later in the decade as inflation pushed daily trade up the denomination ladder, the fifty-shilling value passing to coin while notes from 500 shillings upward carried the circulating load.
Details
- IssuerBenki Kuu ya Tanzania (Bank of Tanzania)
- CurrencyShilling (TSh)
- DenominationFifty Shillings
- Collectedon the Tanzania journey, 1992
- SeriesMwinyi portrait issue, early 1990s
- SignatureTwo: Waziri wa Fedha (Minister of Finance) and Gavana (Governor)
- WatermarkGiraffe's head