5 Birr / Ethiopian Dollars

Ethiopia's currency was denominated in "dollars" during the imperial period under Haile Selassie, a deliberate modernization choice that accompanied the country's 1945 monetary reforms and its post-war integration into the Bretton Woods system. By 1966 the National Bank had been operating independently for over a decade, having separated from the State Bank of Ethiopia in 1963. Thomas De La Rue printed the series to a high standard, as was typical of their Ethiopian contracts from this period.

Pick 26 is sometimes confused with the earlier 1961 issue; the 1966 date distinguishes it, though both share the same basic De La Rue plate lineage.