Singapore Commemorative Notes to Celebrate SG50

It has been almost 8 years since the last issue of a commemorative note for Singapore, and this time round, MAS has issued a set of five 10 dollar notes and a 50 dollar note to mark Singapore's 50th birthday and nation building. 

For this issue, a total of 20 million pieces of the $50 notes and 75 million pieces of $10 notes - 15 million pieces of each design - are being printed, which means that the supply is ample and therefore the collector's value of these notes are not high, apart from the special numbers, as well as the error notes (if any).

For this issue, there was an embarrassing mistake made by the MAS by misspelling the name of Singapore's first President, Mr Yusof Ishak twice on the packaging - on the cover fold and enclosed booklet. However, as this mistake is made on the packaging, not on the note itself, there is no considerable appreciation of the set, especially when everyone has the same "error" folder. An interesting news article on this from the Straits Times can be found here.

However, there are also collectors' sets which are being sold, by a 3rd party vendor contracted by MAS, which may in the future, appreciate due to its limited supply. 

1917-1920 Straits Settlements Emergency Issue - 10 Cents

These are the 1917-1920 Straits Settlements Emergency Issue - 10 Cents notes which are also affectionately known as "cardboard" by collectors. It is a green and black coloured note which was printed on white card board, thus the nickname.

The date is the emobossed seal in red at the back, with figures representing the date of issue. The day is at left, month at right and year at the bottom. Issued dates are from 1st October 1917 all the way to 10th June 1920.

It is supposedly in the size of 118mm x 76mm but many different varieties have been seen, and I have even seen them printed on larger pieces of cardboard than that.

There are 2 signatories to this note, namely the Treasurer (A.M. Poutney) and Acting Treasure (H. Marriot), with the latter being the rarer variety. 

Singapore Orchid Series 10 Dollars - Dr. Goh Keng Swee Variety - Million Serial

A rare find, a Dr. Goh Keng Swee's variety of the Orchid Series notes with a million serial. 

Singapore Portrait Series Specimen 10,000 Dollars (10K)

This banknote has one of the largest denomination (real value) in the world with a face value of 10,000 Singapore dollars which is almost USD 8000. As Singapore has a Currency Interchangeability Agreement with Brunei, the Brunei 10,000 dollars note ties for the largest denomination (real value). 

The note featured in this post has a mintage of 5000 pieces and is printed on real currency paper and has all the exact anti-counterfeit features on the actual note. This note belongs to the 4th set of currency notes issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 

I have also featured the 2nd series Bird 10000 notes earlier in this post. In total, to date, Singapore has printed 4 designs of the 10000 notes, namely the Orchid, Bird, Ship & Portrait series.

1941 Malaya / British Administration 50 Cents PMG Graded 67 EPQ Superb GEM UNC

This pair of 1941 Malaya / British Administration 50 Cents is one of the finest pair of notes that I have in my collection. For such old notes, especially the ones before the World War 2, to come in such a good condition is extremely rare. A grade of 67 EPQ from PMG is also rarely seen for graded notes.

1953 Malaya & British Borneo - Queen Elizabeth II 5 & 10 Dollars PMG Graded 55/58 EPQ

Singapore Orchid Series 25 Dollar Banknote - First Prefix PMG Graded 64 EPQ

A nice piece of Singapore Orchid 25 dollars with First Prefix A/1, with PMG 64 EPQ grade.