The note bears the year 1973, although this half dinar appeared a quarter of a century later: in 1998 the Bahrain Monetary Agency updated its third-issue notes and gave them a wider windowed security thread — one whose segments emerge on the surface of the paper.

The front shows a map of Bahrain, the state coat of arms and a weaver at his loom, a tribute to the island’s traditional craft. The back is given over to industry: it depicts the Alba aluminium smelter.

The third dinar issue began in 1993, and in 1998 the series was refined. This type of half dinar is known with a 1 mm thread and with a 1.8 mm thread, the versions also differing in the number of windows; all of them are signed by Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

A piece from the third issue — one of the last Monetary Agency series before note issuance passed to the Central Bank of Bahrain — and, for a collector of varieties, the 1998 wide-thread version. UNC condition means the note has never circulated: no folds, no wear, no soiling, even corners — just as it left the press.

For those who collect banknotes by subject, whether wildlife, architecture or famous people, the VPcoins catalogue offers other themed issues too.