November Postings 2014

1 November 2014
Lebanon - 2012 complete full set from 1,000 to 100,000 Livres (Lebanese Pound LBP). The notes are all printed with the years date of 2012 in Arabic. The design of these notes were first introduced in 2011. The set that I have posted are all reprints. The design of these notes are very similar to those previously issued but with very minor alterations on the colours. Lebanon (Beirut) was once known as the financial center of the Arab world until civil war broke out in 1975. Sadly to say, even today, the country is still very much a divided nation. Lebanon has a small population of just under 5.0m people.

4 November 2014 (Happy Birthday my son)
Macau Bank of China - This is the long awaited issue 2014 Year of the Horse commemorative note. This note was supposed to release in early 2014 but was delay until recently. This note was made only available to both residents and non permanent residents of Macau via online registration. The registration was first announced on 4.6.2014 with each person can register only once for up to 30 pieces of banknotes from each issuing bank (Bank of China and Banco Nacional Ultramarino), with distribution commenced from 6.10.2014 to 31.12.2014. To avoid the same mistake happening again, both banks also released the Year of the Snake notes 10 Patacas simultaneously. It is believed that 20 millions pieces have been printed by each bank. This is the third note of the 12-Banknote series. Some famous persons born in the Year of the Horse - Neil Armstrong (1930), Rembrandt (1606), Theodore Roosevelt (1858), F D Roosevelt (1882), Barbra Streisand (1942), Paul MaCartney (1942), Chris Evert (1954) and Anwar Sadat (1918).

5 November 2014
Macau Banco Nacional Ultramarino - 10 Patacas celebrating the Year of the Horse 2014. Loaded here is the other commemorative Lunar New Year note issued by BNU, just like the one released by Bank of China.

15 November 2014
Samoa - This is a 50 Tala Hybrid Commemorative specimen note issued in 2012 celebrating the country's 50th anniversary of Independence from New Zealand in 1962. The official name of Samoa is the Independence State of Samoa (Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Sāmoa). The German ruled Samoa (then known as Western Samoa) from 1900 to 1914. Following the out break of world war 1 in 1914, New Zealand took over the administration from the German and ruled between 1914 to 1962 until it's independence. In 1997, the country changed it's name from Western Samoa to just Samoa. This note has the specimen control number of 001, or the first note of the specimen series. It is interesting to note that apart from changing it's name, the country had two other major changes - 1) driving systems - from the right side (US system) to the left side (Australia style) in 2009, and; 2) in 2011, the nation skipped Friday and moved from 29.12.2011 (Thursday) to 31.12.2011 (Saturday). This changed means that the country from being the last to see the sun set to the first to see the sun rise. The purpose of this was to bring the nation closer to it's main trading partners, such as Australia and New Zealand. Obviously those who were born on 30th December didn't get to celebrate their birthdays that year. Well, it's only one year out of your entire life, much better than those who were born in a leap year, right?

17 November 2014
Samoa - Here is a set of the 2012 reprints specimen notes. This series was first introduced in 2008 with 5 notes, denominations from 5 to 100 Tala. In 2012, a reprints with new signatures were released but without the 10 and 50 Tala values. At the time of the release, a 50 Tala commemorative was also issued to celebrate the country's Golden Jubilee 50th Year of Independence from the Kiwis. The reprint for the 50 Tala normal note was finally issued recently (2014), but still no 10 Tala 2012 yet. Here is a set of the specimen notes but without the 10 Tala denomination. The 50 and 100 Tala are still Hybrid notes. This is the first set of the reprint specimen series with the tiny control number of #001. The numbers are printed in red on the lower left hand corner. It's quite hard to see, but you should be able to spot that especially on the 20 Tala denomination. It is believe that only 500 pieces of specimen notes printed.

19 November 2014 (Happy Birthday My Darling Girl)
Kuwait - A complete set of new Kuwaiti notes released on 29.6.2014. These new notes are all printed on cotton based paper material with denominations issued remain unchanged, from quarter to twenty dinars. The Kuwaiti dinars are still the strongest currency in the world, much stronger than the Bahrain dinar and the Oman rial. This full set of Kuwaiti has a face value of approximately US$130+/-. Whilst many central banks around the world ceased issuing lower denomination of notes due to inflation, the Central Bank of Kuwait continues to issue the quarter and half dinar values. There are not many banknotes nowadays printed in fractional value. The other country which still does that is Bahrain with the half dinar note (2007 issue).

22 November 2014
Malaysia - This is a 5 Ringgit specimen (contoh) note officially issued with a control number of 070. This note was printed by Thomas de la Rue and this is the third print of the series since it was first released in 1986. Previous two prints were slightly difference from the above note mainly due to slight alteration to the design (flag pole) and security features. From the scans you will notice that this a circulated piece but still in great condition. More importantly it has no folds or creases on the note.

28 November 2014
Malaysia - Here I have uploaded two more Malaysian notes - 2012 series. The notes are RM20 (P54r) and RM100 (P55r). Both notes are replacement notes with prefix ZB (RM20) and ZD (RM100). The ZD RM100 is the latest known replacement note. The RM20 ZD note has been out for a while now.