The smallest note of Jamaica’s first decimal series, the 50 cents, bore the portrait of Marcus Garvey, the country’s first National Hero and a political activist.

The back shows the Rodney Memorial on the square of Spanish Town, which portrays Admiral Lord Rodney as a Roman emperor. The watermark is a pineapple.

Dollars and cents arrived in Jamaica on 8 September 1969, and the fifty-cent note was part of the first set of notes together with the 1, 2 and 10 dollars; it was later replaced by a coin. The year 1960 in the title is the year the Bank of Jamaica was founded; the note itself carries no issue date, and catalogues place it in 1970.

For a Jamaica collection this is the lowest denomination of the first decimal series, and for a set of monuments on banknotes it brings the colonial memorial of Spanish Town. 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.