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| Slot: |
2 Dollars 2016 Issue Bond Note P99 |
| Item: |
Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
2 Dollars 2016 |
| Grade: |
PMG 67 EPQ |
| Cert #: |
8072115-006
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Owner Comments
Zimbabwean Bond Notes were a form of banknote released into circulation by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). The notes were stated to not be a currency in themselves. Rather, they were classed as “legal tender near money” and were pegged equally to the United States dollar (USD). The release of these bond notes followed the earlier release of some “bond coins” released in 2014. Some sources call them “quasi-currency,” and they were dubbed the “Zollar.”
The $2 bond notes were first released in November of 2016, backed by a US$200 Million African Export-Import Bank Loan – You have to wonder, who would seriously lend this country money after everything that had happened?
Two months later, in Jan 2017, US$15 Million worth the $5 bond notes were released. The notes were not generally accepted by the Zimbabwean people, who, I suppose, were still very rightfully suspicious of anything the Zimbabwean government tries to call “money.” As a result, plans to release $10 and $20 bond notes were canceled by the RBZ’s governor at the time, John Mangudya (These bond notes were the first issues to bear his signature). The government tried expanding the electronic money supply and issuing Treasury Bills instead. Later, in 2020, new $10 and $20 banknotes were issued that likely use the designs that were originally going to be used for the $10 and $20 bond notes in 2017 – they just do not say “Bond Note.”
By 2018, the former Finance Minister Tendai Biti argued for the demonetization of the Bond Notes as they’d become the subject of arbitrage. The bond notes even became a political issue in Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections with one group calling for their replacement with “real cash.”
Even with the notes being notionally pegged to the US dollar their value still collapsed. As of January 2019, in everyday transactions, people were using exchange rates of $3 in bond notes to US$1. After a few years of negative inflation rates / deflation from roughly 2009 to 2015, year-over-year inflation from mid-2017 to mid-2018 was only roughly 1.0%, when measured in USD anyway – price stability at last!
The bond notes were radically different than the preceding third, and fourth, dollar series and seem more like what you might expect from a modern redesign on the first dollars of the 1980s. More artistry seems to have gone into their design. They use intricate patterns and textures in the artwork. The Chiremba rocks remain on the front of the notes, as always. The $2 bond note uses an updated image of the Freedom flame, which has long appeared on Zimbabwean currency, on the back.
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| Slot: |
5 Dollars 2016 Issue Bond Note P100 |
| Item: |
Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
5 Dollars 2016 |
| Grade: |
PMG 66 EPQ |
| Cert #: |
8063418-097
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Owner Comments
The bond notes would be the last attempt by the government of President Robert Mugabe, who “resigned” in 2017, after holding the office since 1987. On Nov 15, 2017, after more than a year of protests, he was placed under house arrest by the national army in a coup d’etat. Four days later his party, ZANU-PF, sacked him as party leader and appointed the Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, in his place. He resigned on Nov 21, two days later, before impeachment proceedings could be concluded.
Less than 2 years later, on Sep 6 2019, Rober Mugabe died in Singapore, where he’d been receiving medical treatment off and on since 2018. His body returned to Zimbabwe on Sep 11, 2019. One thousand people had gathered at the airport to hear a speech by President Mnanngagwa, but it is reported that no supporters had gathered along the procession route to his home and only 500 mourners gathered at his birthplace in Zvimba. It was announced on Sep 13 that his burial would be delayed 30 days (from the planned Sep 16) and that he’d be laid to rest in the Heroes Acre Cemetary at the request of the government – the family initially refused this plan, planning to barry him in Zvimba. On Sep 26th, it was stated that he would be buried in Kulama (considered his hometown) “to respect the wishes of families of deceased heroes” - suggesting that some people were not thrilled by the idea of him being laid to rest in a place of honor. He was laid to rest on Sep 28, 2019 – the great hero of the war for independence and black majority control of the country, with his legacy in ruins.
The government announced that yet another new currency was coming in June 2019 and said, in October 2019, that new $2 and $5 notes for the new currency would be coming in November 2019. Inflation, ever present with Zimbabwean currency, was over 300% in October 2019 - the loss of the peg to the US dollar had caused the value of the bond notes and the RTGS dollar to collapse. This led to shortages of foreign currency, fuel, and food. The ‘new’ currency, called the Zimbabwe dollar, used the currency code ZWD, the currency code of the 1st dollar, and incorporated the bond coins, bond notes, electronic bank balances and the RTGS dollar - making you wonder how it was ‘new’ if it rolled all of that over.
As 2020 started the mining sector gave one of the first and clearest signs that the new ZWL and ZWD wouldn't survive long. The mining industry is responsible for bringing most of the foreign currency into the country and the employees know the mining companies are getting US dollars for the diamonds they dig up. And those miners wanted to be paid in US dollars - not in the new Zimbabwe dollars that were already losing purchasing power way too fast. The problem is the mine bosses often don't want to pay the workers in the more valuable foreign currency and disagreements have sometimes escalated to violence and shooting. Mine worker unions have had to negotiate on a quarterly basis not only the pay the workers will receive, but also what percentage of that must be paid in US dollars - using official rates, which are generally higher than "real," market rates.
The bond notes were radically different than the preceding third, and fourth, dollar series and seem more like what you might expect from a modern redesign on the first dollars of the 1980s. More artistry seems to have gone into their design. They use intricate patterns and textures in the artwork. The Chiremba rocks remain on the front of the notes, as always.
The $5 bond note uses an image of giraffes and I do not think giraffes were ever shown so prominently on the Zimbabwean currency before. There is however, a pretty large image of a giraffe on the side of the front of the P-4 notes from the first dollar series – because everything about the design of these things traces back to the first dollars.
The bond notes also seem significantly different than the preceding series in terms of their aspect ratio – looking longer and thinner than the third and fourth dollars. This makes sense in that the country and central bank were surely hoping to do everything they could to distance these bond notes from the previous failed 2nd, 3rd and 4th Zimbabwean currencies - not remind people of them. The RBZ tried to create a new beginning and convince everyone that this was the start of something new and good. It just did not work.
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| Slot: |
2 Dollars 2019 Issue P101 (PUNL2a) |
| Item: |
Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
2 Dollars 2019 |
| Grade: |
PMG 67 EPQ |
| Cert #: |
8070134-015
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Owner Comments
Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti did not get the demonetization of the Bond Notes that he had argued in favor of in 2018.
On 2/20/2019 the “Zollar” “quasi-currency,” pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio, represented by the bond notes, became the official currency of Zimbabwe – called the RTGS dollar, consisting of the bond notes and electronic money. The Bond Notes and electronic money would be converted or merged into the new currency with a 1:1 parity and then they would float against the US dollar. The name of the currency would come from the country’s interbank online payment platform – Real Time Gross Settlement, ‘RTGS.’ The RTGS dollar used the ZWL currency code that the 4th dollar had used in 2009.
This cannot be thought of as a true revival or f or remonetization of the old 4th dollar notes. The old notes were not remonetized and still are not legal tender. However, there was no “4th redenomination” to establish an official exchange rate between the RTGS and the prior currencies. In that sense, the RTGS dollar was an attempt at a new, fresh start and does not have any real linkage to the old sequence of currencies represented by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th dollars.
In the days leading up to the announcement the government and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) were actively denying claims that they were looking to introduce a new currency. Some local economists called the move a “bold and progressive” step. Others saw the move as a sophisticated plan to take control of the US dollar denominated savings held by the population – in part because they took the foreign currency balances of the people, converted them to the new currency and, in June 2019, abolished the multi-currency system in the country. The government also banned the use of foreign currencies for transactions in the county.
Shakespear Hamauswa, a businessman and lecturer, sued the government and called the RTGS a “ponzi currency,” used to “monetize the theft” of the US$ balances of the people accumulated in the last 10 years. Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the major opposition group, said, “The monetary policy statement is a disaster that will erode livelihoods, plunge the nation into darkness and uncertainty.” The national courts threw the case out on the basis that he’d “failed to establish a case” and made him pay court costs.
Whether he was right or wrong, it did not last long regardless. The government announced yet another new currency was coming in June 2019 and said, in October 2019, that new $2 and $5 notes for the new currency would be coming in November 2019.
The new notes issued in late 2019 (this is one of them) used the same design as the bond notes that had been issued just a few years prior, but the new issues removed the words “Bond Note” from the front and back of the notes. This re-use of an existing note design for a new series is a break with previous changes in currency system implemented by the RBZ, but it was probably done in this case because the bond notes were still being honored at face / on par with the new currency.
The Chiremba rocks remain on the front of the notes, as always. The $2 bond note uses an updated image of the Freedom flame, which has long appeared on Zimbabwean currency, on the back.
It is interesting to think that, at the time the RTGS dollar and these notes were announced, Zimbabwe had only been in existence in its current form for 39 years. At the time these came out, Zimbabwe had been without a national currency for 10 years. So, when these came out, Zimbabwe had not had its own national currency for over 25% of the time it had been a state.
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| Slot: |
5 Dollars 2019 Issue P102 (PUNL5a) |
| Item: |
Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
5 Dollars 2019 |
| Grade: |
PMG 67 EPQ |
| Cert #: |
8070134-017
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Owner Comments
The government announced yet another new currency was coming in June 2019 and said, in October 2019, that new $2 and $5 notes for the new currency would be coming in November 2019. Inflation, ever present with Zimbabwean currency, was over 300% in October 2019 - the loss of the peg to the US dollar had caused the value of the bond notes and the RTGS dollar to collapse. This led to shortages of foreign currency, fuel, and food. The ‘new’ currency, called the Zimbabwe dollar, used the currency code ZWD, the currency code of the 1st dollar, and incorporated the bond coins, bond notes, electronic bank balances and the RTGS dollar - making you wonder how it was ‘new’ if it rolled all of that over.
As 2020 started the mining sector gave one of the first and clearest signs that the new ZWL and ZWD would not survive long. The mining industry is responsible for bringing most of the foreign currency into the country and the employees know the mining companies are getting US dollars for the diamonds they dig up. And those miners wanted to be paid in US dollars - not in the new Zimbabwe dollars that were already losing purchasing power way too fast. The problem is the mine bosses often do not want to pay the workers in the more valuable foreign currency and disagreements have sometimes escalated to violence and shooting. Mine worker unions have had to negotiate on a quarterly basis not only the pay the workers will receive, but also what percentage of that must be paid in US dollars - using official rates, which are generally higher than "real," market rates.
Zimbabwe, coming up on the 40th anniversary of its independence (April 18, 2020), was listed as one of the world’s top global food and hunger crises by a UN report. The country was in crisis before anyone had heard the word “Coronavirus,” but that just made things worse. The government reintroduced price controls in April 2020. This was done amid food shortages, fuel shortages, and commodity prices spiking across the board.
In May 2020, in yet another desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, the government re-introduced a peg of the ZWD to the USD at 25:1 – but at that point the currency had already been trading at 360:1 or more. This represents a 99.7% loss of value for the bond notes in 4 years - the residents of the country can hardly be blamed for their lack of confidence in the currency.
Inflation (in ZWD) reached 785.55% in May 2020, according to official statistics released by Zimstats – you need about 1000% annualized inflation or 50% monthly to meet previously referenced definitions of hyperinflation, but let’s be honest – that’s hyperinflation. Again.
The new notes issued in late 2019 (this is one of them) used the same design as the bond notes that had been issued just a few years prior, but the new issues removed the words “Bond Note” from the front and back of the notes. The $5 note uses an image of giraffes on the back. I do not think giraffes were ever shown so prominently on the Zimbabwean currency before.
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| Slot: |
10 Dollars 2020 Issue P103 (PUNL10a) |
| Item: |
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| Grade: |
PMG 67 EPQ |
| Cert #: |
8074009-078
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Owner Comments
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced in mid-May 2020 that new $10 and $20 bank notes would be released at the end of May and the first week of June, respectively. A Boeing 747 arrived in Harare from Leipzig Germany on the morning of May 14th, 2020 and unloaded 66 tons of bank notes – think about that! 66 tons of cash! While the RBZ does not disclose who does their printing, it is speculated, based on this, that the Leipzig Branch of Munich’s Giesecke & Devrient is making these notes for the RBZ. An “official request” from the German government compelled the firm to stop making banknotes for Zimbabwe in 2008, but the company has been doing printing for the country since 1965, when it was still Rhodesia.
The government stopped trading on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) on June 29th in a move geared towards protecting the currency – which was still taking a beating and described as being “in free fall.” The closure lasted for more than a month and trading did not resume until August 3rd.
In late June 2020 the government increased the salaries of civil servants by 50% and gave them a “Covid-19 Allowance” of US$75 per month. Yes – the allowance they were paying to these government workers was in US dollars, not local currency. Even if you use the official exchange rates (75 ZWD to US$1 in June 2020), the salary for these workers is only US$40, meaning that this “allowance” is worth more than their salaries. If you use unofficial rates their pay would be much lower in US dollar terms. Government pensioners were to receive a US$30 monthly Covid-19 allowance, tax-free.
Officials have called the measures “transitory” and blamed it all on Covid-19 – not their fault, of course. A member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, Eddie Cross, called the announcement “crazy,” and said he did not even think the country had enough US dollars / money in the bank to pay for it. He also called it “retrogressive” as it violated a “dedollarisation” program which was already facing resistance. Prior to this, the country had already started paying mine workers in US dollars and was now expanding this to the largest group of workers in the country. Cross believed this would lead private workers to demand the same. Jonathan Chew of Imara Asset Management Zimbabwe said the current multiple exchange rate system might be able to limp along a while longer but that this would ultimately lead to a “redollarisation” of the economy (a return to using the US dollar as the de facto medium of exchange and currency of the country).
These new notes issued in late mid-2020 likely use the same designs as would have been used by the bond notes that would had been issued as part of the aborted Bond Note series just a few years prior, but the new issues removed the words “Bond Note” from the front and back of the notes. We will never know for sure because $10 and $20 Bond Notes were never released, but in 2019 they used the same designs as the 2016 and 2017 Bond Notes, so there is no reason to think this is not also the case for the 2020 issues (short of a formal / official statement from the RBZ denying this, which I have not seen).
The original $10 notes, the P-3, issued starting in 1980, was primarily red, like these notes and it is a very similar red – the fourth dollar $10 notes from 2009 (ZIM94) also had a similar red coloring. This note does not feature the “Eternal Flame of Freedom / “Freedom Flame” like the P-3 – that was used / featured on the $2 notes – but the back of the P-3 note does show several buildings in the background of the image and this note features a modern high rise building that looks a lot like the one that was used on the backs of some of the 3rd dollar notes – Look at ZIM71, ZIM87 and ZIM88 in the 3rd dollar set if you want to see what I mean. It probably wasn’t the best idea to use this if they were trying to not remind people of the 3rd dollars, but… 1) the images on the 3rd dollar notes were a lot smaller, 2) the people hadn’t forgotten the disastrous 3rd dollars anyway, 3) This is new artwork and, 4) the reuse of old imagery on these notes would have probably been the least of the problems / objections people had over these notes anyway, if it even came up.
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| Slot: |
20 Dollars 2020 Issue P104 (PUNL20a) |
| Item: |
Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
20 Dollars Pick Unlisted 2020 |
| Grade: |
PMG 67 EPQ |
| Cert #: |
8077592-056
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Owner Comments
After the events of early and mid-2021, I was just waiting for the official news that this currency is dead, this series is done, and this was the last note in it. As it turned out, I was wrong! There would be a $50 note and a $100 note - but that comes later.
By mid-Nov 2020 the people of the country seemingly had decided that they didn't care about the local currency or threats from the government with a ban of the use of foreign currency in domestic commerce. There was once again a cottage industry of cleaning and repairing US dollars and notes in an attempt to extend their use well beyond their intended useful life and people were taking almost anything that was still recognizable as a real US dollar over the new national currency. Threats of raids and the seizure of foreign currency at that point I suppose is seen as the risk you have to take and the cost of doing business - and seizing foreign currency in this way at this point is probably one of the government's best means by which to get money that is actually worth something.
John Robertson, an economist in the capital, Harare, said, “The main problem is that we do not have faith in our own currency, and so the Zimbabwe dollars that exist are now of such a low value we don’t want to carry them around because you need a large quantity just to buy a loaf of bread.”
If governments are good at anything though, it is denying reality. On 30 Nov 2020 the government doubled down, saying it stood behind the national currency, that suspending the national currency in 2009 was one of the worst mistakes they made or could have made, and that they would not repeat it. In January 2021, Mr. Eddie Cross of the MPC said that a $50 and "higher denomination notes” would be coming in 2021. The RBZ quickly came back and said the $50 would be coming, but nothing else, for now.
We did finally get a $50 note in July 2021 and shortly thereafter we did get a $100 note. The $100 note was announced in April 2022, which was only about 9 months after the $50.
I suspect the original press release talking about their "intent" to release a $50 note was meant to counter Mr. Cross shooting his mouth off and thereby help to lessen inflationary pressures and expectations by saying that $100 and $200 notes were not coming. Saying a $50 note was coming simultaneously signaled that they were not giving up on the new national currency. So, I think the whole thing was a PR move for the RBZ.
It is worth noting that the $50 notes (and the $100 notes they released in 2022) are still dated "2020," suggesting that they were printed and ready in 2020 and that their release was just delayed for a while for some reason(s) I don't know. However, if the $100 notes were in fact printed in 2020 then that would prove that the RBZ was lying when they claimed in early 2021 that they were not considering anything over a $50 denomination – Yes! Shocking! I know.
Cross quit his position with the MPC in February 2021, expressing “frustration,” but he was also 81 years old at the time and that seems like as good a reason to quit as any. But it also means he had less of a reason to lie or to help them lie at that point.
The new $20 notes issued in 2020 likely use the same designs as would have been used by the bond notes that would had been issued as part of the aborted Bond Note series just a few years prior, but the new issues removed the words “Bond Note” from the front and back of the notes. We will never know for sure because $10 and $20 Bond Notes were never released. However, in 2019 they used the same designs as the 2016 and 2017 Bond Notes for the $2 and $5 notes, so there is no reason to think this is not also the case for the 2020 issues (short of a formal / official statement from the RBZ denying this, which I have not seen, and I don’t think I’d believe it if I did).
The original $20 notes, the P-4, issued starting in 1980, was primarily blues, teals, greens and aqua and the overall color scheme was very similar to these new notes. The fourth dollar $20 notes from 2009 (ZIM95) were also predominantly blue. On the back, both the P-4 and this note have an elephant – similarly posed in a front-facing / head toward the viewer kind of way – alongside and image of Victoria Falls.
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| Slot: |
50 Dollars 2020 Issue P105 |
| Item: |
Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
50 Dollars 2020 - Wmk: Zimbabwe Bird & RBZ |
| Grade: |
PMG 66 EPQ |
| Cert #: |
2079260-013
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Owner Comments
Well, they proved me wrong.
In Mid-May 2021 I wrote in my description for the $20 note in this series, that I did not think there would be a $50 note for this series. I really thought at the time that the series was dead. It had been a while since the $20 note had been released and, even though they’d talked about releasing a $50 note “soon” in early 2021, there had been no formal announcement or release of the note after more than a year. It seemed like all signs pointed to this series being dead. Then, only about 2 months later, in July 2021, the RBZ announced that this note was coming out.
You get different values for this note at time of introduction depending on what you reference. Some articles put the value at US$0.59-0.60 based on prevailing official bank rates and some put it at US$0.35 based on black market rates. Other black-market rates I see would put it at about US$0.13-0.14. In either case, it was not worth much even at release.
I think if they had had any sense the RBZ would have skipped these completely and done $100, $500, $1000 and $5000, but they were afraid that releasing new notes too fast would spook people with memories of 2006-2009. But inflation was still running at 106% annually in 2021 (down from ~800%). They were again allowing the US dollar to trade in parallel with the ZWD domestically, so you are back to dollarization of the economy. The new note still could not buy a loaf of bread - it took two of them. You still needed a huge wad of bills to make any reasonably sized purchase. People were already worried about the fact that they are seeing 1 or 2 new, higher, denominations every year. People simply aren't this dumb. People were already talking about the fact that more, higher, denominations will probably be coming in articles announcing this one. The RBZ might be thinking that releasing new denominations slower is going to make people less alarmed and have them not remembering 2006-2009, but they remember. The kids know about it. The fear and the awareness are there.
It is worth noting that the $50 notes (and the $100 notes released in 2022) are dated "2020," suggesting that they were printed and ready in 2020 and that their release was just delayed for a while for some reason(s) I don't know. So, the release of these notes most likely is the result of the fact that they were already printed so the options were to just release them or quietly destroy them, so the RBZ chose to release them.
Maybe if they had released the notes in 2020, when they were presumably printed, the note would have at least been able to buy that loaf of bread. Make all the jokes you want to about the $100 Trillion note (P-91), but at least when it was released it was worth about $2 and could buy bread.
The back of this note features the Monument to the Unknown Soldier of the War for Independence and a portrait of Mbuya Nehandra. The monument is in the National Heroes Acre (which is actually about 57 acres). This is also where the "Eternal Flame of Freedom" / "Eternal Flame of Independence" is - you see that show up in a few different places, including on the old P-3 notes, the P-99 (&P-101) and the P-97. I think this monument was featured on Zimbabwean currency only once before this, on the back of the P-81 note (200 Million ZWR).
Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana, aka Mbuya Nehandra was a female hero of the “Chimurenga,” or what is now called the “First Chimurenga,” which was the war of the native Africans to fight the British South Africa Company in an attempt to stop the colonialization of Rhodesia / Zimbabwe. She was a spirit medium and spirit leader of the Shona. She was captured and executed in 1898. It is believed she was born around 1840 and she would have been 45-50 at the time of her death. In the lead up to and after independence (the war for independence became the “2nd Chimurenga“) she was honored by Zimbabweans with statues, street names, naming hospitals, songs, novels and poems.
My wife got me this P-105 note as part of my Father’s Day present in 2022.
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| Slot: |
100 Dollars 2020 Issue P106 |
| Item: |
Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank
100 Dollars 2020 - Wmk: Zimbabwe Bird |
| Grade: |
PMG 68 EPQ |
| Cert #: |
2091005-039
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Owner Comments
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe announced in early April 2022 that they would be releasing a new $100 bill. At the time, inflation was running about 6-7% a month and about 66-72% a year – in fairness, that is actually lower than it had been, and inflation had apparently been on a downtrend for a while at this point. But that is faint praise given that it was starting to notch back up and 70% annual inflation is still problematic to put it politely. The RBZ committee at the time talked about how it needed to “remain focused on inflation reduction” while also pointing to rising global inflation and the Russia-Ukraine conflict – which had started only about 1.5 months prior at the time.
it is worth noting that these are dated "2020," suggesting that the notes were printed and ready in 2020 and that their release was just delayed for a while for some reason(s) I don't know. That would mean that Mr Cross was being honest when he said in Jan 2021 that the RBZ was looking at the release of “higher denominations” and that the RBZ announcement denying that they were considering anything above $50 at the time was a lie. Somehow, however, I don’t think it would shock a lot of people to catch the RBZ in a lie. However, Mangudya explicitly denied that there were plans for a $100 note in February of 2021.
By Jun 2022, just two months after this note was released, annual inflation had spiked from 72% to 192%.
Forever behind the curve with this series, the RBZ once again released a new note that could not even buy a loaf of bread when it was released.
Just two to three months after this note was released, in June and July 2022, you have some developments that are the surest signs yet that this attempt at restarting a national currency has failed, and that this series is at an end.
In June 2022, the country announced that the US Dollar and other foreign currencies would be legal tender in the country for at least the next 5 years. The multi-currency system that reigned from 2009-2019 was supposedly brought to an end by the government outlawing domestic use of foreign currencies and the forced conversion of bank balances to the new dollar in 2019, but it probably never went away. They just stopped pretending in 2021 that they could outlaw it. This all comes less than three years after the RBZ stated repeatedly in October 2019 that there was absolutely zero chance that they would return to the multi-currency system.
In July 2022, the country announced that they would start issuing gold coins later that month that could be purchased for the value of the coins + production cost and used in domestic transactions or kept as an inflation hedge. Actual gold coins, struck possibly even for circulation. Can you even believe it? If it happens, I think that might be one of if not the first time that gold coins have circulated in nearly 100 years.
However, even with these announcements, the Zimbabwe dollar represented by this series, at least officially, was not dead. The government and the RBZ were still officially supporting it and saying it was an ongoing thing as of the summer of 2022. Unofficially, it might still be twitching, but it’s dead.
I said in 2021 that I thought this series was dead and ended at the $20 issue. I now think we really have seen the last of it. I think these were only released because they were already printed, but I don’t think the RBZ will waste any more money printing new notes for this series. They could prove me wrong again though.
The design of this note will look familiar to those familiar with Zimbabwean money. The front of the note is more or less identical to the other notes in the series with the exception of the color and the denomination and even the color seems very similar to the $50 note that immediately precedes it in the series. The reverse of the note features the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, which have not been featured previously in this series but they have been featured on the national coins and currency over and over again dating back to 1980 with the $1 coin. I think the first appearance of the ruins on a note was on the $50 bill of the 2nd series of the 1st dollar (P-8), which was released in 1994.
Every time the ruins are introduced or featured in a new series of notes it is done with new artwork but the artwork always seems to focus on this one structure or feature of the ruins. I think this new design is notable also for the prominent placement of the milkwood tree. I bring up the old $1 coin from 1980 in part because, of all the prior artwork, this new note most reminds me of that old $1 coin.
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