1 000 Kwacha

The 1000 Kwacha was the highest denomination in Zambia's series through most of the 1990s, a period when the kwacha was losing value sharply against hard currencies — by mid-decade, the official exchange rate had collapsed from roughly 2 kwacha per U.S. dollar at independence to well over 1,000. A note worth holding in 1992 bought considerably less by the time the series was retired.

The long print run under a single Pick number covers two signature varieties, both bearing Dominic Mulaisho's successor Jacob Mwanza, whose tenure as Bank of Zambia Governor spanned the late 1980s through the 1990s privatization era.