BANKNOTES OF THE BAHAMAS

The Bahamas, now a popular tourist destination, are a group of islands located off the coast of Florida. Originally a British colony, the country became independent in 1973, but remained in the British Commonwealth with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. The bank notes that we will focus on have been issued under the decimal system based on the dollar, introduced in 1966 (although the first notes were dated 1965, starting with Pick-17). Advanced collectors can decide to collect the earlier bank note issues of the Bahamas as well, first issued in 1919, which were denominated in pound sterling.

The Currency Note Act of 1965 introduced the decimal system to the Bahamas. Coins and bank notes denominated in cents and dollars (as opposed to pence, shillings, and pounds, as they had been in the past) were introduced in 1966. Old and new currency was in circulation concurrently for six months, after which time the old coins and bank notes were no longer legal tender.

The Bahamas government issued the new bank notes. A total of eight denominations were issued, all dated 1965: 1/2 dollar, 1 dollar, 3 dollars, 5 dollars, 10 dollars, 20 dollars, 50 dollars, and 100 dollars. Initially, the 5 dollar note was green, but after a year this color was changed to orange, to avoid confusion with the 1 dollar note, which was also green.

All three series have numerous notes that are scarce to rare. The ½ dollar, 1 dollar, and 3 dollar of each of the three dates are generally available in Uncirculated condition and are a good introduction to the bank notes of the Bahamas. The 5 dollar notes start to become scarce in Uncirculated condition, as are the 10 dollar and higher denominations. For each of the three series, the 50 dollar and 100 dollar notes are multi-thousand dollar rarities that are generally offered for sale only at major auctions. Some of the individual signature varieties are even more difficult, such as the 20 dollar note dated 1965 with three signatures, with no recent auction appearances of the better variety.

To read the complete article, see:
Collecting Bank Notes of the Bahamas (http://news.coinupdate.com/37724-2/)

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