Ghana - Travel/Philately/Numismatics/Memorabilia Profile

Ghana, a country in Western Africa bordered by Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo, and the Gulf of Guinea has a total land area of 92,098 square miles and a population of close to 24 million. Ghana which holds the status of a stable democracy is a middle income economy. It is the world’s top gold producer and oil has been discovered in the recent past. Other exports are cocoa, oil, timber, diamond, and manganese. The dam built over River Volta provides electricity for itself and its neighbors. Agriculture is the main economic sector, followed in the distance by manufacturing. Tourism is a rapidly growing sector, thanks to Ghana's political and economic stability, and low crime rate.


Travel Resources:

November through April is considered tourist friendly. The major attractions include the  Cape Coast Castle (17th century), Elmina Castle (1482), Kakum National Park (tropical rain forest), Mole National Park (safari), Kokrobite (beach and music museum), and the Panafest. Accra is the capital and has enough attractions of its own. Its cuisine, like most of its neighbors are a starchy dish served alongside a spicy stew or soup of fish, meat, mushrooms or snails.


ResourceISBN or ASINBest PriceDescription
Ghana Bradt Travel Guide978-1841623252$18Great practical information with hints on cultural taboos, info on fauna at the national parks and places to stay, along with region-wise coverage on Accra, Towards Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Elmina and Surrounds, Sekondi-Takoradi and the West Coast, The East Coast, Inland of Accra, East of Lake Volta, Between the Coast and Kumasi, Kumasi, Greater Ashanti, From Kumasi to Tamale, Tamale and Mole National Park, Bolgatanga and the Upper East, and Wa and the Upper West.
Ghana Travel Map978-1553412168$131:500,000 scale. Includes overview maps of Accra, Cape Coast, and Kumasi.
Ghana Grounded Adapter Plug Kit – GUB, GUD, and GUFB0016ZU31E$21


Philatelic Profile:

The first stamps of Ghana were a set of four stamps released on March 6, 1957 to mark the declaration of independence on that day. The set (Scott #1 to #4) is remarkably inexpensive and catalogs for less than a dollar MNH or used. The design shows Kwame Nkrumah along with map and palm-nut vulture. Nkrumah was the first Prime Minister (1957-60) and first President of Ghana (1960-66). He turned his presidency into a legal dictatorship by a constitutional amendment but was overthrown in a military coup in 1966. Today, he is considered one of the most respected leaders in African history mainly due to his message of Pan-Africanism.

Other stamps of Ghana enjoying good philatelic interest include:
  1. A set of five stamps released on November 1, 1963 for the UNESCO world campaign to save historic monuments of Nubia. The set (Scott #151 to #155) catalogs for around $3 MNH and around half that for used. The designs show Ramses II at Abu Simbel, rock painting, bird and fish, Queen Nefertari, Sphinx of Wadi es-Sebua, and Statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. Nubia is the region along the Nile in northern Sudan and Southern Egypt which contained a number of monuments as depicted in this set. Many of them were saved from the rising waters of the Nile due to the UNESCO world campaign between 1960 and 1980.
  2. A set of four stamps released on January 5, 1975 as a precursor to the introduction of metric system in September 1975. The set (Scott #570 to #573) catalogs for around $3 MNH and around half that for used. The designs show the conversion ratios by means of an illustration: One and three-quarter pints of milk is equivalent to a liter, two and a quarter lbs of jam a little more than a kilogram, a meter of cloth will be a little more than three foot three, and thermometer, ice and boiling tea kettle.
  3. A set of four stamps issued on January 26, 1988 to commemorate the Revolution of Ghana that commenced on December 31, 1981. The set (Scott #1050A to 1050D) catalogs for around $40 MNH and around half that for used. The designs include ports, railways, cocoa industry, and mining industry. Following the ouster of Nkrumah in a military coup in 1966, a number of coups occurred during the period from 1966 to 1981 until Jerry Rawlings assumed power. He started out as a military leader following a coup in 1981. A new constitution and multi-party politics was established by 1992 and he went on to serve as President of Ghana between 1993 and 2001.
  4. A set of three strips and three souvenir sheets in the Birds of Ghana theme released on October 14, 1991. The set (Scott #1343 to #1345 a-p, and #1346 to #1348) catalogs for around $50 MNH or used. The designs show melba finch, orange-cheeked waxbill, paradise flycatcher, blue plantain-eater, red bishop, splendid glossy starling, red-headed loverbird, plam swift, narina togon, tawny eagle, bateleur eagle, hoopoe, secretary bird, white-backed vulture, bare-headed rockfowl, ground hornbill, openbilled stork, African spoonbill, pink-backed pelican, little bittern, king reed-hen, saddlebill stork, glossy ibis, white-faced tree duck, black-headed heron, hammerkop, African darter, woolly-necked stork, yellow-billed stork, black-winged stilt, Goliath heron, lily trotter, shikra, Abyssinian roller, carmine bee-eater, pintailed whydah, purple glossing starling, yellow-backed whydah, Pel’s Fishing Bowl, Verreaux’s touraco, red-cheeked cordonbleu, olive-bellied sunbird, red-billed hornbill, red-billed quelea, crowned crane, blue quail, Egyptian vulture, helmeted guineafowl, marabou stork, saddlebill stork, and African River eagle.
  5. A set of four stamps, two sheets of eight, and two souvenir sheets released on February 28, 2000 in the Wildlife theme. The set (Scott #2160 to #2163, #2164a-h, #2165a-h, #2166, #2167) catalogs for around $25 MNH or used. The designs show black-faced impala, cheetah, wildebeest, hippopotamus, chimpanzee, boomslang, vulture, leopard, rhinoceros, zebra, crowned crane, lesser kudu, purple roller, pelicans, egrets, orange-breasted waxbill, giraffe, African buffalo, African elephant, African lion, waterbuck, and ostrich. 
Numismatic Profile:

The first coin of Ghana was a bronze half-penny (12 Pence = 1 Shilling) released in 1958 with Dr. Kwame Nkrumah head portrait in Obverse and Date divided by Star in Reverse. The coin has high mintage (over 32M) and catalogs for less than two dollars in BU. Ghana converted to decimal system (100 Pesewas = 1 Cedi) in 1967 with the introduction of Bronze Half Pesewas. The issue has high mintage and catalogs for less than a dollar in BU. Proofs of the first issues have very low mintage and are a very good bargain at around a dollar. Ghana has issued commemorative gold coins since the 1980s.

Numismatic items of Ghana include:


ItemPrice RangeDescription
Coins$1 and upCommon Pesewas and Cedis start around $1. UNC year sets starts around $10. Commemoratives such as the Marine Life Protection Issue of 1997 and the 1966 Soccer World Cup proofs start around $25. Bi-metal tribe commemoratives from the 2000s start around $50. Rare silver proofs and sets go into the 100s.
Paper Money$3 and upCommon UNCs from the 2000s starts around $3. Z Replacements and other rare notes start around $10. Matched Serial# Specimen Sets start around $50. Bundles, Early Specimen Sets etc go well into the 100s.


Collectible Memorabilia:

The popular souvenirs are genuine Kente cloth in intricate patterns, drums, masks, wood carvings, mud painted cloth, African bead work, and the trade beads (the earth tone variety).


ResourcePrice RangeDescription
Collectibles$10 and up‘Lost Wax’ brass pendants and other curios start around $10. Powdered Glass Krobo Trade Beeds start around $15 and can go into the 40s and 50s for certain glass and other chemical varieties. Tribal masks, initiation masks, fertility dolls, sculptures, Kente Cloth, and other exquisite hand-carved curios start around $50 and can go well into the 100s and 1000s.



Last Updated: 12/2015.

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