Firstly, I must make it clear that these are not Australian Antarctic territorial banknotes but as Australia has such a large interest in Antarctica and it is our largest and nearest geographical neighbour to the south, I have included some information on them here. A great many of them circulate on Ebay Australia and so I have decided to look into their origins a bit.
One of the more unusual banknotes to surface in recent times has been the advent of various formats of notes issued from Antarctica Overseas Exchange Office Ltd which was founded originally by D.J. Hamilton. These banknotes are private issues that have been carefully thought through and printed in a thoroughly professional manner. The notes even include proper security features and are a delight to look at both from an artistic point of view as well as from the finely executed printing. There have been three series of notes so far issued by the Exchange. These were known as the 1996, 1999 and 2001 series. They were created to raise funds for Antartic conservation works.
Throughout the entire series, which were originally issued in 1996, the notes have been adorned with local themes which have been carefully selected to promote and boost interest in the collectibles marketplace. Twenty percent of the profits forthcoming from the sale of the notes is used to defray the costs incurred by the exchange. A massive 80% is distributed to organisations which seek to undertake research and humanitarian projects within the Antarctic region.
All notes have the same measurements of 182 x 93 mm and have been issued in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 & $100. On occasion collector packs have been available as well as Specimen notes.
One of the most intriguing relases was the 1999 Two Dollar note depicting 2 penguins, a mother and baby, which stand in the foreground of one of Antarctica's most well known landmarks, Mt. Erebus. On the 28th of November 1979 Air New Zealnd flight 901 crashed into the slopes of Mt. Erebus killing everyone on board, more than 200 people. This note was issued with date 28th Novenmber 2009 as a commemorative issue and is prized by collectors for that reason.
You can see the full range of banknotes that have been released so far by visiting Bank Of Antarctica.
Visit Noteworthy Collectibles here! 
0 comments:
Post a Comment