Catalog
100 000 000 Dollars Bearer Cheque
| Issuer | Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe |
|---|---|
| Year | 2008 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Second Dollar (2006-2008) |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | RESERVE BANK OF ZIMBABWE Pay the bearer on demand ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS on or before 31st December 2008 for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Issue date: 2nd May 2008 BEARER CHEQUE Dr. G Gono Governor |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
By mid-2008, Zimbabwe's month-on-month inflation had exceeded 11,000,000%, and the Reserve Bank had lost the capacity to issue notes fast enough to be useful. The "bearer cheque" format — technically a negotiable instrument rather than a banknote — was a legal workaround that allowed Fidelity Printers to push denominations into the hundreds of millions without formally restructuring the currency. It bought weeks, not months.
This 100,000,000-dollar instrument was obsolete almost immediately upon issue. The August 2008 redenomination slashed ten zeros from the currency, rendering the entire bearer cheque series worthless overnight.