5 Dollars

Barbados gained full independence in November 1966, but the Barbados dollar itself didn't arrive until 1973, when the island broke from the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority and established the Central Bank of Barbados to manage its own monetary affairs. This note is from that inaugural issue — the first series ever produced under the Central Bank's authority rather than a regional body.

De La Rue was the logical choice for the commission, having printed currency for much of the anglophone Caribbean for decades. The 1973 series used a relatively simple security profile by contemporary standards, with watermark protection but no metallic strip — that would come later.