Zambia

The Republic of Zambia is a landlocked country in southern Africa. Its Capital city is Lusaka. In 1911, Cecil Rhodes and the British South Africa Company Named the area as Northern Rhodesia , with southern Rhodesia now called Zimbabwe. In 1923 it became a British colonial territory and in 1953 grouped Northern and Southern Rhodesia's with Nyasaland (now Malawi). Northern Rhodesia became independent in 1964 and became The Republic of Zambia.

Monetary units:

1 Pound = 20 Shillings = 240 Pence up to 1968
1 Kwacha = 100 Ngwee 1968 onward.

The Notes above are :
The 1000 Kwacha from 2008 with a fish eagle on the front and an Aadvark, a tractor and the "chainbreaker" statue on the reverse. This is a polymer note.
The 500 Kwacha note from 2008 again with the fish eagle on the front and an elephant, women working in the fields and the statue . This is a polymer note
The 50 Kwacha note is from 2003 and has the fish eagle and the reverse has a Zebra, copper refining and the statue , this one is a paper note
And finally the 20 Kwacha Note, this one is made of paper and has a Kudu , the statue and the state house at Lusaka on the reverse. This note is from 1992.

Zaire

The Republic of Zaire, now called the democratic republic of the Congo. Its capital was Kinshasa.  The Republic of Congo was formed from the colonial country of Belgian Congo after gaining independence in 1960 (the former French colony chose the same name for its independent country so they were known by their respective capital cities - this one called Congo-Leopoldville and the French one - Congo Brazzaville) In 1964 It was renamed The Democratic Republic of the Congo and then again in 1971 to The Republic of Zaire. Following Independence the provinces of Katanga and South Kasai tried to secede which led to a bitter war. In 1997, after an armed invasion from forces of the Ugandan army and the Rwandan Hutu's overthrew the government and it reverted to The Democratic Republic of the Congo

Monetary Units:

1 Franc = 100 Centimes up to 1967
1 Zaire = 100 Makuta 1967-1993
1 Nouveaux Zaire = 100 Nouveaux Makuta = 3 million old Zaires 1993- 1998

The notes above are;

The 50 Nouveaux Zaire note from 1993 with Joseph Mobutu on the front and a hydroelectric dam on the reverse.

The 5 Nouveaux Zaire note from 1993 again with Mobutu on the front and The Independence monument on the reverse.

YUGOSLAVIA

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in central Europe up until 1992. previously it was called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Yugoslavia was invaded during world war two by the axis powers but the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia was declared by the partisan resistance in 1943 and recognised by the king as the government in 1944. a year later the monarchy was abolished and the country was renamed the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia and a communist government was established. In 1963 it was again, renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Country was made up of 6 socialist Republics and two autonomous provinces (SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Croatia, SR Macedonia, SR Montenegro, SR Slovenia, SR Serbia, the AP Vojvodina and AP Kosovo). The Yugoslav Wars started in 1991 which led to the breakup of the country in 1992.

Monetary Units:

1 Dinar = 100 Para
1 Dinar = 100 old Dinara 1965
1 Dinar = 10,000 old Dinara 1990-1991
1 Dinar = 10 old Dinar 1992


The group above are the folowing notes ;
The 1000 Dinar note with a woman and a farming scene. 1981
The 500 Dinar note with Nicola Tesla . 1978
The 100 Dinar note with the statue from the garden of the United Nations. 1978
The 50 Dinar note with the relief of Mestrovic. 1978
The 20 Dinar note with a docked ship. 1978
The 10 Dinar note with a Cheeky Chappie steel worker.1968

The reverse of all the notes are similar to the final scan above.

These notes above are;
The 100 000 Dinar note from 1989 with a girl on the front and an abstract design on the reverse.
The 50 000 Dinar note from 1988 with a girl on the front and the city of Dubrovnik on the reverse.
The 20 000 Dinar note from 1987 with a miner on the front and mining equipment on the reverse.
The 5000 Dinar note from 1985 with Josip Tito on the front and Jajce in Bosnia on the reverse.
The 1000 Dinar note from 1990 with Nicola Tesla on the front and a high frequency transformer on the reverse.
The 500 Dinar note from 1990 with a young man on the front and a mountain scene on the reverse.
The 500 Dinar note from 1991 as above but in orange/ brown.
The 100 Dinar Note from 1990 with a young Girl on the front and a wheat stalk on the reverse.
The 50 Dinar note from 1990 with a young boy on the front and roses on the back.

YEMEN

The Republic of Yemen is a country in the south east of the Arabian peninsula. Its capital city is Sana'a . In 1918 the Ottoman empire pulled out of the north of the country and North Yemen became independent and in 1968 after an eight year civil war between the royalists and the republicans, the repubicans won and formed the north into the Yemen Arab Republic. At around the same time the Aden Emergency ended British rule in what was Aden and South Arabia which were joined together under a socialist government as the Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen. In 1990, the two governments reached an agreement on joint governing and in May of that year the countries merged into the Republic of Yemen. Yemen is thought to be one of the oldest centres of civilisation in the middle east.

Monetary units:
1 rial = 40 Buqshas                  - north Yemen/ Arab republic
1 dinar = 1000 fils up to 1996   - south Yemen/ democratic republic

1 rial = 100 fils   from 1996      - Republic of Yemen

The first note above is the 1990 20 Rial note from the Yemen Arab Republic with a statue of cupid on  the front and a dhow with Sana'a in the background on the reverse or so the reference books say, however sana'a is inland and doesn't have a harbour so this i think may be the Aden Harbour (see below)
The next one above is again, from the Arab republic. this is a one Rial note from 1983 with the Baqiliyah Mosque on the front and coffee plants on the reverse.

This note above, is the 1 Dinar note from democratic republic of Yemen (south Yemen) . It is the 1965 issue with a dhow and Aden harbour in the background on the front and the reverse has a palm tree and a cotton tree branch.

WESTERN SAMOA

The Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa, is an island state in the pacific. Its capital city is Apia. The islands were part of, firstly the British empire and then the German empire up until the First world war, when it became a mandate of New Zealand. Previously in 1899 the eastern half of the islands became a territory of The USA and today is known as American Samoa, the western half became Western Samoa. In 1997 the government of Western Samoa changed the name to Samoa under their constitution.

Monetary units:

1 Pound = 20 Shillings = 240 pence up to 1967
1 Tala = 100 sene 1967 onwards

The note above is the 2 Tala note from 2003 (possibly) with Malietoa Tanumafili II , the Samoan head of state, on the front and a tribal gathering on the reverse. This note had me scratching my head for a couple of reasons - firstly the date and the note is not listed in my reference books and secondly, the note seems to be a mixture of polymer at both sides but paper in the middle - if anyone knowns more, please let me know. Also, although the country changed its name in 1997 it still has the words "legal tender in Western Samoa" on the front right - is that the western part of Samoa - i.e. not american Samoa or do people still know it as western Samoa?

WEST AFRICAN STATES

The Economic community of West African states , in French; Union Economique et Monetaire Ouest-Africaine (UEMOA) is an organisation of 8 West African States who all use the West African CFA franc. the currency is administered by the Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique L'Ouest (BCEAO). BCEAO was renamed in 1959 from its predecessor  which was set up in 1955. Members of UEMOA and members of the West African Monetary Zone ( WAMZ) make up the bigger organisation of The Economic community of west African states (ECOWAS) . the members of WAMZ are mainly english speaking countries and intend to issue a new currency (ECO)for themselves in 2015. each country within the union has the same currency but can be identified by their letter code.

Members of UEMOA with their Identifying lettercode :
Benin (B)
Burkina-Faso (C)
Ivory Coast (A)
Guinea Bissau (joined in 1997) (S)
Mali (D)
Niger (H)
Senegal (K)
Togo (T)

Monetary Units:
1 Franc +100 Centimes


The notes above are to give an idea of how to identify the year of issue and the country code. The country code is the letter in brackets above and the year of issue is the first two numbers of the serial number.

The first two notes above, are both 1000 franc notes. the first one has the country letter S in the bottom centre left and denote Guinea-Bissau, the serial number starts with 00 and therefore is from the year (20)00. The next one down has the letter A for Ivory Coast and the serial number starting with 97 and  is therefore from 1997.
both notes have a woman's head and people carrying bags of peanuts up a hill behind her. The next note down is the back of the 1000 franc note with tribal art and two women carrying baskets

The next two down are the fronts of 500 franc notes, both have a man on the front with a dam in the background and tribal art and a man on a garden tractor on the reverse. The first has country letter B for Benin and a serial number starting with 02 (2002) and the second, C for Burkina Faso and the the year is 2002. The last note above is the back of the 500 franc note.

The first two notes are the front of the 2003 issue 1000 franc notes. he issue date is 2003 (when they were first issued) but the actual print dates are different. the first with letter D for Mali has been printed and distributed in 2005, whereas the second one has the letter H for Niger and was released in 2004. the front of these note have tribal art and representations of learning on the front and camels on the reverse.
The last note above, in blue, is the 2000 franc note with letter K for Senegal and release date of 2003. the front is similar to the 1000 franc note above but has representations of transport and the reverse has fish swimming on it.

This note is the slightly older note dated as 1978 and has the country letter code T for Togo. on the front is a woman and fishing boats in the background. the reverse has a wooden mask of a man and boats in the background.