Bridgetown.
New banknotes goes into circulation from today and Barbadians will get the opportunity to learn more about the notes.
The Central Bank of Barbados will be holding two Take Note training sessions for the public in the Frank Collymore Hall of the Tom Adams Financial Centre. The first session will run from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and the second from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
“We encourage all Barbadians, and especially those who deal with cash on a regular basis to come out and learn about the design and the security features of the new banknotes,” said Octavia Gibson, Deputy Director, Currency at the Central Bank. “The more familiar people are with their currency, the less likely they are to be taken advantage of by counterfeiters.”
The sessions will be co-presented by Steve McGregor, Security Evaluation Executive at De La Rue, the company that prints Barbados’ banknotes and Sherri Bishop, a Currency Officer at the Central Bank.
The sessions are free of charge and are open to the public. Attendees are asked to bring their national identification card or driver’s license in order to complete registration.
The Central Bank first unveiled the new designs last month and since then the institution has hosted a series of educational sessions for money handlers. Tuesday’s event is another in the series to familiarise the country with the new-look notes.
As background, all denominations have retained their colour and the portraits on the front are unchanged.
Overall, though, the notes have a new look and feel. The backs of the notes now feature six different images, each linked to the portrait on the front. For John Redman Bovell, a pioneer of the sugar industry, the $2 has a vignette of Morgan Lewis Windmill. The $5, which has the portrait of former West Indies cricket captain Sir Frank Worrell, has 3Ws Oval, and the $10 portrays Charles Duncan O’Neal Bridge. In honour of the Right Excellent Samuel Jackman Prescod, the first coloured man in the House of Assembly, the $20 bears a vignette of one of the Parliament buildings. The $50 depicts Independence Square, including the statue of the Right Excellent Errol Barrow; and the $100 honours the Right Excellent Sir Grantley Adams with a view of the Grantley Adams International Airport.
Raised marks to help the visually impaired identify the different denominations have now been placed on the top left of the note: one dot represents the $2 note, two dots the $5, three dots the $10, and so on.
The map of Barbados watermark, which has been found on all denominations since 1973, has been replaced by six distinct watermarks – the image of the person featured on that denomination’s portrait. Below the main watermark is a second, smaller one that shows the note’s value in numbers. Both watermarks can be seen on the left side of the note when it is held up to the light.
The security thread on the lower denominations – $2, $5 and $10 – remains the same wave-like silver line that is on current banknotes, but the $20, $50 and $100 have a new wide thread that changes from red to green when the note is tilted. Both types of thread weave in and out of the paper and have “CBB” and the denomination printed on them. For all denominations, when the note is held up to the light, the thread becomes a complete line from the top to the bottom of the note.
Under ultraviolet light, the waves in the centre of the $2, $5 and $10 glow and tiny fibres spread throughout the note fluoresce blue-yellow-blue. On the $20, $50 and $100, the waves fluoresce two different colours – pink and green on the $20, green and yellow on the $50, and yellow and green on the $100 – and tiny fibres glow pink.
On the right side of the two highest denominations, holograms have replaced the foil patches that were used previously. On the $50, the dominant image is the pelican, while on the $100, the principal image is the heraldic dolphin. Both denominations feature broken tridents, Pride of Barbados flowers and the note’s denomination as background images.
Despite the introduction of the new notes, Barbadians can continue to use banknotes from previous series. “Older notes will remain in circulation. They are legal tender, so banks, supermarkets, stores… everyone can and should continue to accept them,” clarified Octavia Gibson, Deputy Director, Currency.
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