Bahamas to issue new 10-dollar note

The following is from a press release dated 30 April 2010:

The Government of The Bahamas wishes to advise the public that an updated series of $10 banknotes will be issued by the Central Bank bearing the image of Sir Stafford Sands, former Minister of Finance of The Bahamas and a principal architect of the modern Bahamian economy.

Sir Stafford’s image was first placed on the banknote on March 7th, 2000, when the series 2000 banknotes were released into circulation, replacing the image of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In 2005 the government of the day determined to remove the image of Sir Stafford and to replace it with the image of Her Majesty the Queen.

Shortly after coming to office in 2007 the Government took the decision that when the 2005 series of banknotes bearing the image of the Queen expired the new series of $10 banknotes would again bear the image of Sir Stafford Sands. Now, given the expiration of the 2005 banknotes, the image of Bahamian Sir Stafford once again returns to the notes.

The Government is pleased to continue this effort of honouring Bahamians who make significant contributions to The Bahamas by placing their images on our local currency, an exercise that began in December 1993 when, for the first time, the portrait of a Bahamian, Sir Milo Butler was placed on the $20 banknote. Thereafter, the portraits of Sir Cecil was placed on the 1995 $5 banknote; Sir Roland on the $50 banknote in 2000 and Sir Lynden on the $1 banknote in 2001.