Catalog
20 000 Dollars Emergency Bearer Cheque
| Issuer | Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe |
|---|---|
| Year | 2003 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 147 × 73 mm |
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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 | $20000 RESERVE BANK OF ZIMBABWE $20000 BEARER CHEQUE Pay the bearer on demand TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS on or before 31st December 2005 for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Issued date: 1st December 2003 |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Zimbabwe Bird watermark visible when held to light |
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| Comments |
By 2003, Zimbabwe's inflation had already begun outpacing the Reserve Bank's ability to print denominations fast enough for routine transactions. These bearer cheques — technically not banknotes under Zimbabwean law, a distinction that allowed the Reserve Bank to bypass certain statutory limits on money supply expansion — were issued as a stopgap, with Fidelity Printers in Harare scrambling to meet demand domestically rather than relying on foreign printers.
The bearer cheque format carried a printed expiry date, after which the instrument was theoretically invalid — a mechanism intended to discourage hoarding that became functionally irrelevant as inflation rendered the face value nearly worthless long before any expiry was reached.