Set Description:
The Zimbabwe Dollar (ZWD) replaced the Rhodesian dollar in 1980. Zimbabwe itself replaced Rhodesia the same year. Rhodesia broke away from the British Commonwealth in 1965 in a unilateral declaration of independence because the British would not grant them independence while a small white minority insisted on maintaining their power and preventing a transition to democratic majority rule. This led to 15 years of internal strife and civil war as black nationalists sought to take power from that government.
I think the first dollar notes are tragically ignored by most collectors and hobbyists, who focus on the Trillions series notes – the 100 Trillion note in particular. Where the third dollar notes tend to be relatively plain and homogeneous, the designs of the first dollars are very detailed, intricate, nuanced and, in my opinion, beautiful. When I first started collecting these notes my focus was exclusively on the Trillions series from ZIM65 to ZIM91– mostly because that was all I knew about initially. I discovered the first dollars later. Now they are easily my favorite Zimbabwean banknotes.
All the Zimbabwe regular banknotes feature an image of three balancing rocks that are in Matopos, one of the country's national parks. 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 stones pictured on the banknotes are the most iconic example of this peculiar geological feature found in many places throughout Zimbabwe: rocks formations naturally situated in perfect balance.
Almost all the notes that I have reference Harare - which is the capital city of Zimbabwe. Prior to 1982 the city was named Salisbury and grew out of a British outpost named Fort Salisbury, which was named for Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister at the time the city was founded in 1890. The original 1980 issues of the first dollar notes referenced the original name of the city.
|