For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with Bahamian currency. If ever I came into possession of a Bahamian paper bill, I’d stare at it for minutes on end, studying its beauty as if it were the first one I ever saw. Whenever my grandfather started talking about tuppences and thruppences and ha’pennies (half a penny), he had my undivided attention. I don’t recall what initially sparked my fascination, or when that spark became something greater, but I believe a good deal of credit belongs to plain old American dollar.
To handle money in the Bahamas at any level, one needed to become familiar with both Bahamian and American banknotes and coinages, for ever since the Bahamas changed from the British pound to the Bahamian dollar in 1966, the two sets of currencies have been used interchangeably and were basically considered on par with each other. The simple reason for this being tourism and the fact Americans comprise 85-90% of Bahamas tourism. But American currency was higher-valued and Bahamians went to great lengths to acquire it so they could avoid paying the exchange rate when visiting the states (usually some city in south Florida).
As a child, however, I never cared a thing about dollar values and exchange rates; all that mattered to me was the aesthetics and character of the currency, and in a head-to-head battle—or tails-to-tails—Bahamian currency defeats its American counterpart every time. Not even close. We’re talking Mike Tyson versus a high school freshman close. When traveling in the states, I always carried around samples of the $1, $3, and $5 bills so I could admire a piece of home from time to time, give a glimpse to less-fortunate American children who never knew money could be beautiful (well, more like showing off), and also to reminisce. Now, were I born during the British pound era, it would be more of a contest, but the Bahamas would still get the nod. But given I was born in 1970, my initial exposure was to a Bahamian currency at its aesthetic best and an American currency arguably at its worst. Why would one be drawn to dull monochromatic green bills featuring stoic presidents and stodgy government buildings when right next to them were bills featuring a world of color and design and images that a Bahamian boy could relate to?
Just take a gander at the samples in this post of the earliest forms of the Bahamian dollar and you will understand. There were denominations to match the general American offerings with the additions of half-dollar and three-dollar bills (no two-dollar option). Each of the eight bills were printed in their own thematic color scheme.
And though not as colorful as the paper currency, the coinage has its own singularities—note the square fifteen-cent piece and the ten-cent piece with scalloped edges. And as with the paper currency, the Bahamian symbols represented (national emblem, flamingoes, conch shell, blue marlin, sloop, hibiscus, bonefish, pineapple, starfish) are far more interesting than what the US counterparts offer.
Now that you’ve had a good overview, let’s look at the individual bills in greater detail.
$.50 Bill (Straw Market): The Fifty Cents bill came in a dark purplish theme with a depiction of the Nassau Straw Market. The thin, tall hats at the bottom left appear to be imitations of what some of the revelers might wear during the Junkanoo festival held Christmas and New Year’s. The Straw Market has always been a staple of downtown Nassau tourism.
$1 Bill (Sea Garden): The $1 bill came in a fitting aquamarine theme, given its depiction of a coral reef. This is a simple yet elegant rendering of something that is almost impossible for an artist to do justice to. There are sponges, sea fans, and corals, with a good-sized brain coral at the bottom left and some elkhorn coral above that. There are striped grunts, a yellowtail, what looks like a juvenile angelfish of sorts, and what appears to be a handful of wrasses. This looks like it was pulled straight from my memories!
$3 Bill (Paradise Beach): This bill comes in a deep red, almost scarlet theme, and it has a rendering of what they refer to as “Paradise Beach” on the reverse, but it is actually a view of the eastern end of Cabbage Beach on Paradise Island, one of the more iconic tourist-accessible beaches in the Bahamas. Much has changed about this beach over the years, including the name of it’s parent island; it went from Hog Island to Paradise island in 1962 when Huntington Hartford renamed it–turns out having ‘hog’ in the name isn’t very marketable. The convenient thatch huts lining the top of the beach are no longer there. Having $3 bills might seem odd to sum, but this was created to line up better with the British pound the Bahamas was converting from.
$5 Bill (Government House): The five comes in a rich orange theme and features a picture of Government House on the reverse. This one makes me sad for in recent years the stature of Christopher Columbus was removed due to being defaced. The positioning of Columbus seemed fitting given Government House is situated on the tallest peak of New Providence’s center ridge, affording it the most advantageous view. Whenever we drove by Government House, I would imagine Columbus was surveying the Bahamas island he had just anchored off of after he and his men almost starved to death. At the top of the stairs, you can see a lone policeman standing guard in his iconic uniform.
$10 Bill (Flamingoes): This bill has a dark blue, almost black theme with a flamingo colony on the reverse (note the British spelling of Flamingoes). Here you have two parents doting over their very un-pink newborn (takes 2-3 years to get their vibrant pink color). The volcanic mounds are nests for their eggs and are comprised of gray lake sludge. This would have been a scene from one of the brackish lakes in Inagua (probably Lake Rosa), which is internationally renowned as home to the world’s largest breeding colony of West Indian flamingos. I’m not sure what trees are in the backdrop, though I’ve always imagined them to be mangroves, and that makes me happy.
The $10 bill was always one of my favorite bills as a child, partly because I rarely got to hold bills above $5 and this is by far the most beautiful of the higher-value bills.
I liked the artwork here so much that I used it for inspiration when I created the birth announcement for our sixth child. I took some liberties in putting the chick in the nest, but the parents are pure plagiarism!
$20 Bill (Surrey): They twenty comes in a brown theme and features a horse-drawn surrey on the reverse. This appears to be along the waterfront west of downtown. Surreys were an every-day sighting, but somehow I’d always get excited at the sight of them. I love how sharply-dressed the driver’s always were. No doubt he would get a handsome tip after this trip. And wearing those clothes under the Bahamas sun, I’d say he deserved to be tipped well!
$50 Bill (Produce Market): The fifty has a reddish-brown mahogany theme with the Produce Market on the reverse. Though this could be a scene from many parts of the Bahamas, this is most likely on the wharf downtown. There are some fishing boats in the harbor and a man is getting ready to crack conch in the dinghy by the wharf. Wherever there was produce there was sure to be fish and conch stinking up the air. I’m guessing those are bananas on the crate, and the man to the left is carrying plantains. The $50 bill didn’t seem real to me as a child since I only got to handle smaller bills, but I was able to appreciate it later in life.
$100 Bill (Deep Sea Fishing): This is the largest of the Bahamas paper bills. It comes in a royal blue theme with a sports fishing scene on the reverse. The fish being hauled in is a blue marlin, the national fish of the Bahamas. This scene could have taken place in any of the deep-water locations around the Bahamas, but this would most likely be in the waters of Bimini, which is known as the Sports Fishing Capital of the Bahamas. Earnest Hemmingway was a fixture around Bimini, and I believe the island’s influence had something to do with the giant fish from the Old Man and the Sea being a marlin. Like the $50, I wasn’t very familiar with this bill growing up, and if ever I was fortunate enough to come into possession of one, I was sure to get it changed into ones, fives, and tens.
If you ever make your way down to the Bahamas Islands, be sure to take back some coins as souvenirs, and maybe a fifty-cent or one dollar or three dollar bill. Unfortunately, the more artistic of the colorful paper currency went out of circulation in 1984. and though it’s not impossible to run across one, it’s highly improbable.. The currency has been replaced and updated several times over the past forty years, and despite maintaining some of the signature characteristics (color-schemed, watermarks, silver bar), they don’t come close to matching what was first produced back in 1966.
Which one is your favorite?