Indigenous African Bank
After its establishment in 1931, the Bank of Ethiopia issued notes denominated in talers. The decision to use the foreign denomination dates back to World War I, when the Bank of Abyssinia, the Bank of Ethiopia’s predecessor, began issuing paper money. Maria Theresa talers saw extensive use in Ethiopia through the 19th and much of the 20th centuries. In 1933 a 2-taler note was introduced that depicted Emperor Haile Selassie I. It was the first example of Ethiopian paper money issued by the Bank of Ethiopia to feature an original design.
Maria Theresa talers were popular trade coins in Ethiopia from their introduction in the late 18th or early 19th centuries. Though they were not universally accepted and possessed varying degrees of buying power between regions and individuals, they were an important store of value and medium of exchange. They circulated alongside salt, rifle cartridges, and other commodities. Historian Charles Schaefer describes Ethiopia’s economy as a “coinage-barter” system that continued to exist well into the 20th century.
Birr Issues
Ethiopia adopted birr (the Amharic word for silver) as a denomination in the 19th century and began minting coins in the 1890s. Emperor Menelik II had silver coins struck bearing his likeness, but these “Menelik dollars” were not used as widely as talers. Denominated in birr and subdivided in ghersh, the coins were struck in Paris and Addis Ababa.
American newspapers took note of the introduction of new birr and ghersh issues in 1903. The relative unpopularity of the birr coins might explain why the Bank of Ethiopia denominated its notes in talers; the coins were more familiar and circulated more widely. Stamps featuring Menelik II’s likeness appeared around the same time as the birrs, which author Raymond Jonas described as a “symbolic defense of Ethiopian sovereignty.”
Bank of Abyssinia
Established in 1905, the Bank of Abyssinia was controlled almost entirely by European interests; the first governors and assistant governors were all British, and Europeans and Americans held the vast majority of the bank’s shares. During the First World War, the financial institution began issuing paper notes denominated in talers and printed by Bradley, Wilkinson & Co. The issues feature vignettes of Ethiopian fauna, including lions, antelope, and elephants. The text is written in French, English, and Amharic.
In an email interview, Peter Symes, who wrote an excellent 2013 article on the notes issued by the Bank of Abyssinia and Bank of Ethiopia, writes, “You could argue that, along with the coins, [the liquidation of the Bank of Abyssinia/the establishment of the Bank of Ethiopia] was a measure to establish sovereignty and remove reliance on foreign currency.” The notes were slow to catch on and were not accepted by the Ethiopian post office or customs. Like Menelik II’s coinage, they did not circulate extensively outside of the capital and major cities.
Schaefer described the evolving economic situation in Northeast African Studies: “In the late 1920s and early 1930s, a surge in economic activity had taken place enabling Ethiopia to make remarkable strides towards restructuring its economy.” In his 2013 article, Symes says that paper money began circulating more widely in the 1930s.
Bank of Ethiopia
One of Selassie’s “achievements in consolidating power,” according to Schaefer, was the liquidation of the Bank of Abyssinia and incorporation of the Bank of Ethiopia on August 29, 1931. Many staff members from the first bank retained their positions, but the Ethiopian government controlled 60 percent of the second bank’s shares. Every transaction could also be checked by the country’s minister of finance. The final notes from the Bank of Abyssinia were issued in 1929. On its website, the National Bank of Ethiopia (Ethiopia’s present-day central bank) describes the Bank of Ethiopia as the “first indigenous bank in Africa.”
1933 2-Taler Ethiopia Bank Notes
In 1932 the Bank of Ethiopia issued a series of notes that were nearly identical to those released by the Bank of Abyssinia. A 2-taler example was introduced in 1933 that featured a conjoined portrait of Haile Selassie I and his wife, the empress Menen Asfaw. As previously noted, it was the first entirely new design promulgated by the Bank of Ethiopia.
It is unclear whether Haile Selassie I was the first Ethiopian emperor to be featured on paper money. The 500-taler note issued by both the Bank of Abyssinia and later the Bank of Ethiopia depicts an Ethiopian man clad in elite garb that some claim to be Emperor Menelik II. Symes asserts that this report is unconfirmed.
The 2-taler notes were printed by Bradley, Wilkinson & Co. and issued on June 1, 1933. Symes estimates 50,000 were released, although a 2008 Heritage Auctions listing claims that examples are “scarce, owing to the notes being recalled by the occupying Italian troops of the late 1930s.” Symes says that large numbers of the notes exist in high grades today. Numerous auction listings describe their popularity.
Issued against the backdrop of an evolving economy in a country seeking to assert its independence, the 1933 Ethiopian 2-taler notes represent an interesting chapter in Ethiopian monetary history. They also add to the story of an international currency—the Maria Theresa taler.
A version of this article appeared in the November 2020 issue of The Numismatist (money.org).