10 Pounds

The Bank of Biafra operated for less than three years, its currency existing in parallel with — and in direct defiance of — the Central Bank of Nigeria during the secession war that began in May 1967. By the time this note entered circulation, the breakaway republic was already under blockade, and the humanitarian catastrophe in Biafra was attracting international attention. The currency was as much a political instrument as a functional one, projecting statehood to foreign observers while the military situation deteriorated.

Surviving notes are common in unused grades because large quantities were preserved outside Nigeria after the January 1970 surrender — rendered worthless overnight when the federal government refused any redemption scheme.