Bahamian Dollar - Banknotes

Banknotes

In 1966, the government introduced notes in denominations of ½, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollars. The Bahamas Monetary Authority took over the issuance of paper money in 1968, issuing the same denominations. The Central Bank of The Bahamas was established on 1 June 1974 and took over note issuance from that point forward. Its first issue of notes did not include the ½ and 3 dollar denominations but these were reintroduced in 1984.

The dollar has undergone several revisions in the last twenty years, one of the more notable being an extremely colourful redesign in celebration of the quincentennial of the landing of Christopher Columbus on a Bahamian island he named San Salvador.

All banknotes have been undergoing design changes to foil forgery in recent years, although the notes implemented more stringent security long before the U.S.'s recent redesign of their notes. All banknotes are the same physical size, like the U.S. dollar but unlike the euro. The latest counterfeit-proof formula is the "Counterfeit Resistant Integrated Security Product", or CRISP. The new $10 banknote was released on August 5, 2005, while the $20 banknote was released on September 6, 2006. In October 2005, someone counterfeited one of the new CRISP $10 bills, serial number A161315. Bahamian authorities warned merchants to look for banknotes that lacked the distinctive watermark.

Until a few years ago all notes displayed a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (Head of State) but notes began to display portraits of prominent Bahamian politicians who have died. This policy is now being reversed, with the return of the Queen's portrait to the $10 note. The $½ shows an older Queen Elizabeth II and the back shows a picture of Sister Sarah in the Nassau Straw Market; the $1 shows Sir Lynden Pindling and on the back the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band; the $3 has a young Queen Elizabeth II and on the back shows a Family Island Regatta with native sloops; the $5 – Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield and the back shows a Junkanoo group 'rushing' in the Junkanoo parade; the $10 – an older Queen Elizabeth II (replacing Sir Stafford Sands) and the back shows the Hope Town Lighthouse and settlement in Abaco, the $20 – Sir Milo Butler; the $50 – Sir Roland Symonette; the $100 – an older Queen Elizabeth II and the back shows a jumping blue marlin, the national fish of The Bahamas. For this reason, the Bahamian $100 bill is often referred to by locals as "a blue marlin".