Product Description
SCWPM.#36a - TBB.#B144a -Date: 2nd September 2002
Grade: Unc - Signature: 11 - Prefix: EB
Description: Colour: Orange.
Front: Coat of arms; bunch of fronds; musician Ephraim Amu; round holographic patch.
Back: Leaves; National Theatre of Ghana in Accra.
Windowed security thread with demetalized GHANA 20000
Watermark: Male head with electrotype 20000.
Printer: (TDLR). - Size: 160 x 80 mm. - Material: paper.
The Birth of the Cedi
The second issue of currency was in early 1965, when Ghana decided to leave the British colonial monetary system and adopt the widely accepted decimal system. Accordingly, Cedi notes and Pesewa coins were introduced on the 19th July, 1965 to replace the Ghana pounds, shillings and pence. The cedi was equivalent to eight shillings and four pence (8s 4d) and bore the portrait of the then President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
The name “cedi” was derived from the word “sedie” meaning cowrie, a shell money which gained popularity and wider circulation in the later part of the 19th Century.
The “Pesewa” represented the smallest denomination (quantity) of the gold-dust currency regime. The name was chosen to replace the British Colonial penny.