Singapore Ship Series Commemorative $2 - Prudence At The Helm 1967-1992

This note is issued in 1992 along with a book titled "Prudence at the Helm" for commemorating 25 Years Of Currency Issue 1967 – 1992 BCCS. There is also a spelling error as there is a missing “i” in the word “Commissoners” printed on the note. There are only 5000 copies of this book being printed, corresponding to the serial number of the note. 

This book is a very good read for all currency collectors and people interested in Economics. My favourite read is the short write-up by Dr. Goh Keng Swee, the deputy chairman of MAS back in 1992, where he explained the need for a currency board and the stand of the government with respect to Economic policies. He wrote briefly about how Singapore should not depend on credit creation and the cabinet did not believe in Keynesian economic policies as our economy is small and open. A preview of the book from NLB can be found here.

Singapore Ship Series First Prefix Orange 2 Dollars

Singapore Ship Series First Prefix Orange 2 Dollars

GEM UNC (For Sale in Pairs)

Singapore Ship Series Set

I have a couple of the Uncirculated Singapore Ship Series Sets available for sale. Contact me for details. Cheers.

Singapore Ship Series 50 Dollars

This post will feature Singapore's Ship Series 50 Dollars. As these notes are still fairly common and not very much sought after (currently), not many people would know that there are actually three varieties of this beautiful note.

The third series. Dark blue in colour with silver security thread.

The second series. Light blue colour with silver security thread.

The first series. Light blue colour with normal black security thread (visible when put through light).

Singapore Previous 5 Dollars Banknotes

Many people would know about the different varieties of the Singapore Orchid 5 dollar (3 different signatures, 4 varieties), however not many people know about the different variety of the Singapore Ship 5 dollars. In the scan, zooming into the serial number, one can find a distinct difference in the font, size and spacing of the serial number. This is because the notes are printed by different printers, namely Thomas De La Rue and Harrison & Sons Ltd, the latter being the later issue.

Singapore Ship Series (3rd Series) 1 Dollar Notes

This post will feature the more recent Ship Series. Contrary to popular belief, not all Dr. Goh Keng Swee's variety of notes fetch a high price. In this case, the ship series 1 dollar, almost all notes are signed by Dr. Goh. The more valuable variety will be the 1 signed by Dr. Richard Hu. This is because for this ship dollar, A/1 till D/14 are signed by Dr. Goh while D/14- D/20 are signed by Dr. Richard Hu. The supply of Dr. Hu's notes is much lesser as compared to Dr. Goh's.

Another interesting point is that the signature crosses over at D/14, thus D/14 notes are more collectible as it is termed the Cross-Over Prefix.

Singapore Ship 10 Dollar Replacement & 50 Dollars Light Blue Fancy No.

The note featured above is a Ship series 10 Dollar Replacement note. Note the Z/1 prefix before the 6 digit serial numbers. These replacement notes are uncommon as printing technology has been greatly improved since the early days, notes which had defects when printing also decreased significantly.

The note featured above is a Ship series 50 Dollar note. This version of 50 dollars actually comes in a 3 versions, namely the light blue without silver thread, the light blue with silver thead (as above) and the dark blue ones. This note has also a fancy no of 777707.

Singapore Ship 10 Dollar Error Notes

These notes are in running consecutive order. Take note of the top margin, the printing is shifted up, or some would classify this error as cutting error. The top is significantly "cut" off, while the bottom has a larger blank space.

Rare Singapore Ship 1 Dollar Banknotes

As mentioned previously, there are a few ways people collect notes. Some people like to collect the different signatures for a particular series (e.g. Orchid Series), special numbers, birthdays, the first of each series, the last of each series etc.

In this post, I am showing you the common but rare Ship series 1 dollar banknotes. Ship series notes were issued on 12th Jan 1987. For most people around my age, we would be vaguely familiar with these notes. Bring one or two to school, its enough to buy a couple of drinks at the school canteen or even a few nice, fancy erasers at the bookshop.

However, though these notes are common, this series of 1 dollar note was signed by 2 of our ex-minister of finance, Dr. Goh Keng Swee and Dr. Richad Hu Tsu Tau. Contrary to popular belief that all Dr. Goh's notes are more expensive, in this series, Dr. Goh's notes are the common ones apart from the D/14 prefix.

The reason is because while this series run from A/1 to D/20, only D/14 to D20 prefixes bear the signature of Dr. Richard Hu, while the rest of the A B C till D/14 series bear the signature of Dr. Goh. Therefore, due to the limited supply, the prices of Dr. Hu's notes are higher. Especially interesting is that for the prefix D/14, it is a cross signature prefix, with both Dr. Goh's and Dr. Hu's signature, with different font for the printing of the serial number.

In the scans above, I have uploaded the images of the D/14 to D/20 notes. Note the different signatures of the notes, as well as the last 2 digits, which are similar. These notes were taken from 8 different stack of 100 notes, to make out the same ending 2 numbers which makes them special.