1000 Shillings

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has never received international recognition, which creates an unusual legal ambiguity around its currency — the Somaliland shilling is used domestically and functions as a real medium of exchange, yet it is not listed by any international monetary authority. The Bank of Somaliland issues notes in a context where the issuing government itself is unrecognized, making this one of the few active circulating currencies in the world produced by a de facto state.

The 2006 series relies on a watermark as its primary security feature — modest by contemporary standards, and a known vulnerability given the counterfeiting pressure that unrecognized currencies often face without access to high-security printing contracts.