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1 Dollar 1945, Ethiopia

in Krause book Number: 12a
Years of issue: 23.7.1945 - 1949
Edition: 10 000 000
Signatures: Governor of the State Bank of Ethiopia: Mr. George A. Blowers (in office from from 1945 to 1949)
Serie: 1945 Issue
Specimen of: 23.7.1945
Material: 100% raw cotton
Size (mm): 144 х 74
Printer: Security banknote company, USA

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1 Dollar 1945

Description

Watermark:

Avers:

1 Dollar 1945

Haile Selassie I

The engraving on banknote is made in the style of the classic profile of the monarch for coins and stamps, presumably, from one of the few rare photographs of His Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, during a visit of US military delegation to Addis Ababa.

On the photo, His Majesty, Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia, strolling in the Palace grounds. These pictures are the first to be taken for publication since His Majesty's return to become a fighting member of the United Nations.

Haile Selassie I (23 July 1892, Ejersa Goro, Ethiopia - 27 August 1975, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia), born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was the heir to a dynasty that traced its origins by tradition from King Solomon and Queen Makeda, Empress of Axum, known in the Abrahamic tradition as the Queen of Sheba.

Sanga Sanga

Centered are the peasant plowing with help of Abyssinian oxes or Sanga oxes. It is an Ethiopian breed of oxes, standing out with its long horns and a hump on its back.

Denominations in numerals are in all corners. In words, lower, centered.

Revers:

1 Dollar 1945

Coat of arms of the Ethiopian Empire centered.

Lesser arms of Ethiopian empire has a crowned Ethiopian imperial crown lion of Judah, of natural color, carrying a golden staff in left paw, with a finial in the form of a cross, and the two, with a gold fringe, gold ribbons on a green grassy foothills.

Ethiopia history as recorded and elaborated in a XIII-century treatise, the "Kebre Negest", asserts descent from a retinue of Israelites who returned with Makeda, the Queen of Sheba from her visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem, by whom she had conceived the Solomonic dynasty's founder Menelik I. As Solomon was of the tribe of Judah, his son Menelik I would continue the line, which according to Ethiopian history was passed directly down from King to King until Emperor Haile Selassie I (ostensibly the 225th king from King David) was deposed in 1974. Both Christian and Jewish Ethiopian history have it that there were also immigrants of the Tribes of Dan and Judah that accompanied Makeda back from her visit to Solomon; hence the Ge'ez motto Mo`a 'Anbessa Ze'imnegede Yihuda ("The Lion of Judah has conquered"), included among the titles of the Emperor throughout the Solomonic Dynasty. It is unknown whether John of Patmos was directly aware of this hereditary title when he penned it into the text of the prophecy.

The Lion of Judah motif figured prominently on the old imperial flag, currency, stamps, etc. and may still be seen gracing the terrace of the capital as a national symbol. After the collapse of the Communist Derg in 1990 and the increase of Western-style political freedoms, a minor political party bearing the name Mo'a Anbessa made its appearance.

In the Rastafari movement "The Lion of Judah" is Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, crowned November 2, 1930 with the titles "KING of Kings, LORD of lords, Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of God, the Light of the World." Rastas hold that H.I.M. Haile Selassie I is a direct descendant of the Israelite Tribe of Judah through the lineage of King David and Solomon, and that he is also the Lion of Judah mentioned in the Book of Genesis chap. 49 and Revelation 5.5; there is no proof that Haile Selassie I ever denied these claims.

Lion of JudahLion of Judah

The monument to the Lion of Judah is a statue of the Lion of Judah, symbol of Ethiopian Emperors and Ethiopia, and is located in Addis Ababa.

The monument is located in the square of the Addis Ababa railway station in Addis Ababa and marks the end of Winston Churchill Avenue, one of the main arteries of the city. The sculpture of the Lion of Judah, in gilded bronze, is placed on a black granite pedestal decorated with relief portraits of emperors Menelik II, Haile Selassie I, Zewditu, and Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael. The work was made by the French sculptor Georges Gardet in 1930, on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Hailé Selassié on 2 November 1930.

After the 1974 revolution, the Derg regime thought of removing the monument, symbol of the monarchy, but an association of Arbegnoch veterans claimed that it was a memory of Ethiopian antifascist resistance and a symbol of Ethiopia. Therefore, the regime agreed to leave the monument, which is still in front of the Addis Ababa central station. In 1954, a new monument was commissioned by Emperor Hailè Selassiè from sculptor Maurice Calka.

The monument is found around the National Bank of Ethiopia and the National Theater.

1935: Looted by Fascist Italian force

At the end of the so-called March of the Iron Will (in italian: Marcia della ferrea volontà) (during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War) that led to the occupation of Addis Ababa by the Italian army, the statue was transported to Rome, Italy in 1935 at the end of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.

On 8 May 1937, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the proclamation of the Italian Empire, the Lion of Judah sculpture was placed just beyond Square of Five hundred to Rome, under the obelisk that remembers of the Battle of Dogali.

The Lion of Judah statue remained in Rome until the 1960s, when it was returned to Ethiopia after the negotiations in Addis Ababa. Emperor Haile Selassie took part in the new inauguration ceremony in military uniform, also recalling the patriotic gesture of Zerai Derres.

Denominations in numerals are in all corners. In words lower centered.

Comments:

Banknotes were issued on the Emperor's birthday, July 23.

Governor George A.Blowers Bank was the first American, working in the government of Ethiopia, since the return of Emperor Haile Selassie from exile. He succeeded in this place an Englishman - C.S. Collier.

Blowers was the governor of Bank of Liberia, founded in August 1942. He introduced a new Ethiopian currency - the birr (dollar), who replaced the East African Shilling, introduced by the British authorities.

More about whole story you can read here (Peter Symes)