American Banknote Company: Ethiopian dollar color trial

[Harry]

Here is an interesting set of color trails of Ethiopian dollars, they are all unifaced.  I purchased these notes from a dealer in Philadelphia in 2005.

[malj1]

Very nice hard to find object that is rarely seen. Adds greatly to ones collection.

I have an extremely rare trial, under-print only, of a WW2 Jersey one shilling note here. It shows an elderly couple gossiping, supposedly about the invaders.

[Levantiner]

There is a very intriguing ( perhaps includes espionage) story behind those notes and the American connection to Ethiopia. After the war the British had  a decent amount of control in Ethiopia... they tried to assist the development of a new currency and planned to set up a currency board and have the new Ethiopian currency backed by Stirling.   It is likely a major supporter of this was the reinstated  bank of Ethiopia Governor CS. Collier( a Canadian  who during the war also consulted from time to time with the British Foreign Ministry and was according to Spenser to carry out a suicide assassination of Mussolini at one time. During the war Collier had traded in Maria Theresa thalers, held Hallie Selassie's power of attorney ( during the time Hallie Selassie was in Bath), and also traded arms to the Turks and the Arabian Penninsula). After the war the Ethiopian Gvt was not that enamored with the brits  and started reaching out to the Americans, who sent consultants. One of those consultants John H. Spencer records in his book Ethiopia at Bay" that  Collier stood in the way of an American George blowers taking up the role of  of Governor of the state bank. Things came to a head and only because of a car accident Collier had to step aside........Spencer records that Collier survived the accident and returned home ( Where given Colliers history Home was actually Ethiopia!!!).  Colliers sister and his obituary says other wise and the fact is Collier was actually killed in that accident. Interestingly Spenser states the accident was "unplanned". suggesting to me the exact opposite. With Collier out of the way the Brit plans  for a Sterling based currency were at an end.
   

[Harry]

This is a fascinating story! Thanks for sharing.  By the way these notes are NOT produced by American Banknote Company, I was mistaken, they are produced by Security Banknote Company (SBNC).  SBNC is a US based company and these color trails were produced in America.