10 Shillings 1968 - 1969, Biafra
| in Krause book | Number: 4 |
| Years of issue: | 1968 - 1969 |
| Edition: | GA to GW (except GI & GO) 19 000 000 |
| Signatures: | Governor: Mr. Sylvester U. Ugoh, Director: Mr. William Okefie Uzoaga |
| Serie: | 1968 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 02.1969 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 124 х 61 |
| Printer: | Markpress, Geneva |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Avers:
Palm tree over a rising sun.
Taken from their coat of arms, the rising sun became the dominant symbol of Biafra. It appeared on their flag, their coins and bank notes, on military insignia, and it gave rise to the title of their national anthem, Land of the Rising Sun.
The palm tree was important because of its economic significance to Biafra - next to oil, products from the palm trees were the most valuable exports from the region prior to the new republic being declared. In addition, the depiction of a single palm tree had been the dominant feature on the bank notes of the West African Currency Board from 1916 to 1951, and gave a visual reminder of the notes of that era. (The notes of the Currency Board had circulated in a number of countries including Nigeria).
Denomination by word is centered, by digits - in three corners.
Revers:
On left side is Manilla.
Manillas are a form of money, usually made of bronze or copper, which were used in West Africa. They were produced in large numbers in a wide range of designs, sizes, and weights. Originating before the colonial period, perhaps as the result of trade with the Portuguese Empire, Manillas continued to serve as money and decorative objects until the late 1940s and are still used as decorative objects in some contexts. In the popular consciousness, they are particularly associated with the Atlantic slave trade.
The name manilla is said to derive from the Spanish for a 'bracelet' manella, the Portuguese for 'hand-ring' manilha, or after the Latin manus (hand) or from monilia, plural of monile (necklace). They are usually horseshoe-shaped, with terminations that face each other and are roughly lozenge-shaped. The earliest use of manillas was in West Africa. As a means of exchange they originated in Calabar. Calabar was the chief city of the ancient southeast Nigerian coastal kingdom of that name. It was here in 1505 that a slave could be bought for 8-10 manillas, and an elephant’s tooth for one copper manila
Manillas bear some resemblance to torcs or torques in being rigid and circular and open-ended at the front. (The word "torc" comes from Latin "torquere", "to twist", because of the twisted shape of the collar, an occasional feature of manillas.) Although torcs were most often neck-rings, there were also bracelets with this shape. Torcs were made from gold or bronze, less often silver. 
The oil refinery, possibly the one at Port Harcourt. (Although the refinery, if that is what it is, may well have been the one built by the Biafrans at Uzoakoli, following their loss of access to Port Harcourt and the coast.)
The Port Harcourt Refining Company, (abbreviated PHRC), is a Port Harcourt-based oil and gas company primarily specializing in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products. The company is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Located at Alesa Eleme, the company operates two oil refineries including an old plant commissioned in 1965 that can process 60,000 barrels of oil per stream day and the new plant commissioned in 1989, which has a capacity of 150,000 bpsd. Both oil refineries possess a combined capacity of 210,000 barrels per stream day making PHRC the "biggest oil refining company in Nigeria".
Denominations in numerals are in 3 corners and on left side. In words - at the bottom.
Comments:
Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970, taking its name from the Bight of Biafra (the Atlantic bay to its south). The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria. The creation of the new state that was pushing for recognition was among the causes of the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian - Biafran War.After two-and-a-half years of war, during which a million civilians had died in fighting and from famine, Biafran forces agreed to a ceasefire with the Nigerian Federal Military Government (FMG), and Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria.
Issues of banknotes:
5s. MA to MZ (except MI & MO) 24 million
NA to NR (except NI & NO) 16 million
10s. GA to GW (except GI & GO) 19 million
1 pound BA to BZ (except BI & BO) 24 million
CA to CZ (except CI & CO) 24 million
DA to DX (except DI & DO) 22 million
5 pounds WA to WF 6 million
10 pounds ZA to ZC 3 million
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