CBB offers Collector Sets of new Bahrain banknotes

The new banknotes, in the denominations of BD20, BD10, BD5, BD1 and BD1/2, came into circulation on 17 March 2008.

Each Collector Set comprises five banknotes in mint condition in each denomination, said Mr. Farid Zubari, Director, Currency Issue, at the CBB.

The Collector Sets have been assigned special serial numbers and each collectible banknote is a legal tender.

"The unique feature of the Collector Set is that all of the five banknotes in the set bear the same serial number," said Mr. Zubari.

The Collector sets come in a pure leather presentation album. The price of each set is BD50.

A total of 200 Collector Sets are available for sale from day. They can be purchased from the CBB Currency Issue Directorate at the CBB Building.

The new family of Bahrain banknotes feature brand new designs as well as new and improved security features. All five denominations of banknotes are of uniform size (measuring 154mm x 74mm), which is slightly larger than the existing banknotes.

The new banknotes also incorporate enhancements to the security features, as well as some new features. In addition, the new banknotes also incorporate, for the first time, a feature to enable the visually-impaired to easily recognize the value of each note.

The previously-issued banknotes have been in circulation since 1993, although the BD20 banknote underwent some changes in 1998.