March, 1998

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American Numismatic Association
Outstanding Local Publication

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March Meeting

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Board Meeting

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Last Newsletter

Chicago Coin Club to Meet at CICF

Coin of The Month -- The Eritrean Nakfa

Click here to see a map of Eritrea.

Eritrea's capital, Asmara, a long time trading crossroad, sits at 7,600 feet on the northern end of the Ethiopian Highlands. It enjoys 70 to 80 degree F temperatures year round while the Red Sea Port of Massawa just 35 air miles away scorches in 100+ temperatures in the cool season.

Eritreans are about equally divided between Moslim and Christian. They speak several languages, the dominant being Tigrinya and Arabic. Many also speak English, as you can see on their money. There is no official language.

The area was once part of the great ancient kingdom of Axum. You can find ruins all over from that time. This route between the Red Sea, the Nile River, and the African interior has seen much turmoil. Among others, the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century and the Egyptians and Italians in the 19th century took their turns stirring up things. Finally in 1899, Italy moved in and established the permanent colony of Eritrea. In 1936 after acting as a base for invading Ethiopia, Eritrea became a province of Italian East Africa. When England drove out the Italians in 1942, Eritrea became a United Nations Mandate under joint Ethiopian and British control. In 1952 England handed external control over to Ethiopia of a still-internally independent Eritrea. But in 1962 Ethiopia annexed Eritrea and the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) was born to begin a 30-year fight for independence.

Over the years several groups joined in the fight for independence. They sometimes fought each other. In the end independence came on May 24, 1993, after the final fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam and his Marxist military government.

I was one of many American soldiers at a communications station in Asmara in the late 1960s. In our off time we wandered the highlands and lowlands of Eritrea, down many roads we were not supposed to be on. We were stopped many times by the ELF. I know of no one who was harmed by them nor had anything stolen. But I do admit it is hard to say no to a "request" for binoculars or some food when looking down the barrel of an AK-47.

After four years of getting back on their feet, reestablishing basic services, they have finally issued their first series of coins and paper money as an independent nation. Until this January they had been using Ethiopia's money.

Their new unit, the Nakfa, is named after the northern city of that name that was their base of operations during the 30- year war. The Nakfa is divided into 100 cents with coins of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents and one Nakfa (more on them later).

Click here to see the note.

The 110 x 70mm (5-1/2 by 2-3/4 in.) notes come in 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 Nakfa denominations. The front of each is in multi-color intaglio (raised) printing. Each has a group of three distinctively different young Eritreans as the central portrait. Soldiers plant the Eritrean flag on the left and a camel stands below a camel-head watermark on the right. All denominations above 1 Nakfa have a silver hologram on the right side with multi-colored camels that appear and disappear as you move the bill around in the light.

The reverse is uniformly green on all notes though the design varies from denomination to denomination as follows:

• 1 Nakfa-- Several children study in an outside classroom setting reminiscent of the war years when schools were very much mobile for security.
• 5 Nakfa--the most beautiful giant tree you have ever seen shelters a group of sheep. I've seen these trees and they are every bit as impressive as this one.

  Click here to see the 5 Nakfa reverse.

• 10 Nakfa--a train crosses a long bridge. The train is being pulled by a converted truck, the resourcefulness of those who have little to work with. I'd like to know where there is a river with this much water along the railroad line in Eritrea. I know the line and cannot envision a place where it exists unless it is during one of the seldom happening rainstorms in the desert near Massawa.
• 20 Nakfa--in three windows a man prows with his camel, a woman harvests some crop, and another woman, this one plows a field with a tractor.
• 50 Nakfa--ships load or unload goods in port.
  
  
• 100 Nakfa--a man plows with two oxen.

All words are in English. Only the denomination is written along the edge in the local Tigrinian alphabet. It is also written in Arabic.

Security Features

1. The top and bottom pair of borders on each side include micro print. The front has "STATE OF ERITREA" and "10 NAKFA" in micro print. The reverse borders has "BANK OF ERITREA" and "10 . TEN NAKFA" in micro print. Click here to see boarder detail.
   
   
2. The holographic strip on the left of all notes except one Nakfa has a string of camels that shine one after another in multi-colors as you move the note around relative to the light. The strip itself becomes silver at one angle. The denomination is included in this strip, but it does not change as you change the light. None of this comes out like the real thing when you copy the note. Click here to see holographic strip.
   
   
3. In the lower left just above the denomination, each note has one or more small bars. The 1 has one, the 5 two, the 10 three, and so on. One reviewer says these are for the vision impaired. I doubt that because, although they are raised, they are quite small and all but impossible to distinguish one from another by touch. When copied, they do not show up on the holographic strip as anything more than a blackout of a camel or two. Click here to see the bars on the 1 and 10 Nakfa Notes.
   
   
4. The camel-head watermark in the oval on the right doesn't copy, nor can I get it with my scanner.
   
   
5. The intriguing camel below the watermark is registered with another on the reverse. The camel is solid and the ground outlined on the front. The opposite is true on the reverse. But when you look through the note, the camel looks uniformly the same from both sides, the camel is light and shows an outline while the ground is dark and shows no outline. This does not copy well. Click here to see the camel on both sides and through from the front.
   
   
6. A vertical strip passes just to the left of each central group of faces. It reads "BANK OF ERITREA AERTIRE FO KNAB..." except that the letters are reversed in the reverse text so that the words can be read alternately from the front and back. This does not copy.
   
   
7. The area for lower right denomination number on the front of each bill at first looks like a jumble of dark lines. But look at is closely and you can vaguely make out the denomination numbers looking as they look in the other corners of the note. The background for these numbers are made up of close horizontal lines, the foreground of close vertical lines. This number copies, but poorly. Click here to see the lower right corner.
   
   
8. The denomination is embossed along the right margin in large letters. These numbers do not copy, but they are easily distinguishable one from another by touch on the different denominations. I suspect these are the vision-impaired devices on these notes, not the minuscule bars on the left as another reported.
   
   
9. Lightly in the background of the front of the note you can read again "BANK OF ERITREA" and "TEN NAKFA." This background does not does not copy well. Click here to see a bit of the background.
   
   
10. The background in the oval where the watermark is and where the soldiers are raising the flag must be made of very fine parallel lines as they become various moire patters when copied. These wavy patterns show up in printing finely spaces parallel lines. Usually printers do not want them, but here they are very helpful to governments trying to prevent copying. Click here to see the moire pattern.

Look at the Elgin Coin Club Home Page for more information.

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