Gradually, Then Suddenly
ZIM80*, 2008, 100 Million ZWR

Slot Comment:

3rd Dollar Banknote ZA Prefix Replacement Note $100,000,000

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Note Details

  

Set Details
Note Description: Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank Replacement / Sta
100 Million Dollars
Grade: 66 EPQ
Country: Zimbabwe
Note Number: ZIM80*
Signatures/
Vignettes: 		- Sign. #8
Comment: Exceptional Paper Quality
Certification #: 1625506-036
Owner: Revenant
Set Category: World
Set Name: Gradually, Then Suddenly
Slot Name: ZIM80*, 2008, 100 Million ZWR
Research: See PMG's Census Report for this Note

Owner's Description

The release of this banknote was announced on 3 Dec 2008.

This ZIM80 is a replacement note or a “star” note as they are often called because the US Federal Reserve puts a star next to the serial number on replacement notes. With most Zimbabwean 3rd dollars, the serial numbers start with “AA.” With the replacement notes the serial number starts with “ZA.”

About a week before this note and its cohorts (ZIM78 and ZIM79) were released a Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal ruled on 28 Nov 2008 that the expropriation of farms from 78 farmers (see P-5 descriptions for more on the land seizure program and its consequences) was illegal. However, none of the countries that are part of the SADC were willing to do anything to enforce the ruling and the response from the Mugabe government, per a January 2009 article from the South African “Digital Journal,” was to send men out to assault 5 of the farmers that participated in the suit. The article from the Digital Journal also cites an example where a 400-hectare farm was seized and the government allowed all but 5 hectares of it to sit fallow and unused, which probably goes a long way towards explaining why agricultural production dropped by over 40% after the farm expropriations started.

The Zimbabwe regular banknotes feature an image of the Chiremba balancing rock formation - three balancing rocks that are in Matobo National Park. The image of the stones was chosen as a metaphor for balancing development and environmental protection following the country’s transition from white-ruled Rhodesia to the majority black ruled Zimbabwe. The Matobo Hills are composed entirely of granite and it makes for some unique and interesting formations.

The back side of the Trillions Series banknotes all feature a pair of images that have some kind of national, cultural or economic significance to Zimbabwe. These images are different on each denomination though some of the images seem to have been used more than once on different denominations throughout the series.

The 100 Million dollar banknote features an image of a grain stockpile and an image of some grain silos. The grain stockpile image also appears on ZIM68 (20 ZWR). The grain silos image also appears on ZIM67 (10 ZWR) and ZIM89 (20 Trillion ZWR).

While the amount of arable land in Zimbabwe is relatively small, the nation was a great agricultural producer and Zimbabwe’s agricultural industry was very well performing until 2001, when land re-distribution policies instituted by the government caused massive upheaval. At its peak agriculture was one third of national GDP. In 2015, agriculture was still about 18% of Zimbabwe’s GDP. In 2021 it was 17% of GDP, but the agricultural industry employs 60-70 of the working population.

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