Catalog
1 Dollar - Elizabeth II
| Issuer | Bahamas Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 1965 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio print over a yellow guilloche underprint, with black serial numbers. A portrait vignette of Queen Elizabeth II occupies the left field, the Queen shown in three-quarter bust facing right and wearing the George IV State Diadem. The watermark zone is reserved at the right margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | THE BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT ONE DOLLAR SEA GARDEN $1 EXPULSIS PIRATIS RESTITUTA COMMERCIA THOMAS DE LA RUE & COMPANY. LIMITED. (Translation: Pirates expelled, commerce restored.) |
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| Comments |
The Bahamas Government issued this series while still a British colony, just two years before the introduction of the Bahamian dollar as an independent decimal currency in 1966. That transition — driven in part by pressure to abandon the pounds-shillings-pence system ahead of anticipated independence — made this 1965 series short-lived almost by design. Notes signed by both the Sands/Higgs and the Francis/Higgs/Smiley-Butler combinations exist within the same pick number, reflecting mid-run changes in the Treasury's signing officers rather than separate printings.
De La Rue's watermark security on this issue is a simple counterfeiting deterrent by the standards of the period; the colonial administration never anticipated the note circulating long enough to justify more elaborate measures.