Catalog
50 Cents - Elizabeth II
| Issuer | Central Bank of the Bahamas |
|---|---|
| Year | 2019 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1966-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Grey intaglio print over a multicolour guilloche underprint, with black and red ascending serial numbers. A front-facing portrait of Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Burmese Ruby Tiara occupies the centre right, flanked by an outline map of the Bahamas Islands and a vignette of the Bahama strongback flower (Bourreria succulenta) at centre. A lizard-shaped colour-shifting metallic foil patch appears at centre, with a see-through registration device at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Orange and grey intaglio print over a multicolour guilloche underprint. The central vignette presents a front-facing, seated figure of Sister Sarah at the Nassau straw market, surrounded by vendors and produce in a lively Nassau Market scene. The Coat of Arms of the Bahamas is situated at lower left, a windowed security thread bearing the country name and bank logo runs vertically through the note, and a see-through registration device appears at upper right. |
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| Comments |
The 50-cent denomination has had an uncertain place in Bahamian paper currency — small-value notes of this type tend to exit circulation quickly as they are either hoarded as novelties or worn to destruction faster than higher values, making later-date examples like this 2019 issue surprisingly underrepresented in collections relative to their print run. Oberthur Fiduciaire, which absorbed the banknote division of François-Charles Oberthur in the late 1990s, has handled Bahamian printing for several series.
The colour-shifting foil is notably ambitious security specification for a half-dollar equivalent — a denomination that most issuing authorities would long since have replaced with coin.