Ugandan woman opens late grandfather’s inheritance to find stash of old demonetised banknotes

• A Ugandan woman discovered that her inheritance consisted of old demonetised banknotes.

• The notes were part of a series phased out and replaced by new currency.

• The notes now hold mainly sentimental or collector value, not monetary worth.

A Ugandan woman has sparked stunned social media this weekend, revealing that money left to her by her late grandfather turned out to be a stash of old banknotes that are no longer in circulation.

The woman, who identifies herself as “La Trophy” on TikTok, shared her experience in a video, explaining how she discovered the unexpected inheritance.

She said her grandfather, who passed away last year, left her a stash of money, which she happened to receive this week.

“My grandfather left a will indicating that he left me some money which he had saved. Today I got the opportunity to receive my inheritance and I was shocked to see these notes I had never seen.”

“Most of the people including myself have only known the current Ugandan bank notes. I was not aware of the past demonetised notes,” she said.

The woman says the money had been kept safely by her grandfather, who did not operate a bank account.

She said she hoped to go to the Bank of Uganda and exchange it.

The bank of Uganda, however, no longer exchanges old, demonetised notes as they are no longer legal tender.

The central bank has endeavored to educate masses about how to exchange old and damaged money.

The banknotes that La Trophy discovered are part of a series introduced by the Bank of Uganda in 1999, at a time when the economy was expanding and required higher denominations for transactions.

In 2004, the notes were upgraded with improved security features, including a silver optically variable device (OVD) strip.

However, the central bank later introduced a new family of banknotes, featuring symbols such as the Centenary Monument and the Independence Monument, effectively replacing the old series.

The old notes were allowed to circulate alongside the new ones for several years before being officially phased out.

The Bank of Uganda set March 31, 2013 as the final deadline for the public to exchange the old notes through commercial banks.

While the discovery has drawn sympathy and curiosity online, such notes now hold little financial value.

Instead, their worth is largely sentimental or collectible, depending on their condition and rarity.

Collectors, especially from outside Uganda may still purchase them, but typically at modest prices slightly above their original face value.