The hybrid substrate — a paper-polymer composite rather than full polymer — places this issue in a transitional phase for Pacific island currency production, when De La Rue was actively marketing the format as a durability compromise for central banks with limited note-replacement infrastructure. Samoa's circulation conditions, humid and hard on paper, made the argument easy.
The 2014 signature variety is distinguished by a modified lower margin on both faces — a quiet but cataloguable change that often gets misattributed to a separate issue rather than recognised as a mid-series revision within the same Pick number.
The hybrid substrate — a paper-polymer composite rather than full polymer — places this issue in a transitional phase for Pacific island currency production, when De La Rue was actively marketing the format as a durability compromise for central banks with limited note-replacement infrastructure. Samoa's circulation conditions, humid and hard on paper, made the argument easy.
The 2014 signature variety is distinguished by a modified lower margin on both faces — a quiet but cataloguable change that often gets misattributed to a separate issue rather than recognised as a mid-series revision within the same Pick number.