Last updated: September 2026

What currency do the Bahamas use?

The Bahamas uses the Bahamian dollar, issued by the Central Bank of The Bahamas. The Bahamas had used pounds, shillings and pence, and moved to a decimal dollar in the middle 1960s. The Central Bank has the sole right and authority to issue banknotes and coins under the Central Bank of The Bahamas Act, 2000.

The switch happened in stages rather than overnight. The first dollar notes were prepared under the Currency Note Act 1965, which is still the heading the standard catalog uses for that family, and the notes themselves are dated 1965 (PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, read September 2026). The new coinage followed: the Central Bank dates its numismatic programme to two specimen silver sets issued in 1966, a seven coin set and a nine coin set, designed by the British artist Arnold Machin and minted by the Royal Mint of London (Central Bank of The Bahamas).

There is a digital chapter as well. The Central Bank also issues SandDollar, described on its official site as the digital version of the Bahamian dollar, issued by the Central Bank of The Bahamas through authorised financial institutions (SandDollar). Paper is still the collectable part.

The Central Bank's own history explains what pushed the country to reorganise its money. The local currency had been linked to the pound sterling, and the 1967 devaluation of sterling left Bahamian banks holding sterling balances they could not easily use. The government de-linked the Bahamian dollar from sterling, and the resulting losses helped kill off the old Currency Board (Central Bank of The Bahamas, Our History).

Who has issued Bahamian banknotes?

Four names appear on Bahamian paper money. A Currency Board set up in 1919 came first, the Bahamas Government issued the early dollar notes, the Bahamas Monetary Authority took over in 1968, and the Central Bank of The Bahamas has issued every note since it was established on 1 June 1974. Each handover created a fresh set of imprints for collectors to chase.

The Central Bank records that the Currency Board was restricted mainly to issuing currency, and that its era covered the years when the Bahamas emerged as an international banking centre in the 1960s. The Banks and Trust Companies Regulation Act of 1965 tightened licensing, but the country still lacked an institution with real monetary powers. The Bahamas Monetary Authority, created in 1968, took on the country's foreign exchange risk and began auctioning government Treasury bills, yet it had no legal authority to run active monetary policy (Central Bank of The Bahamas, Our History).

The Central Bank of The Bahamas was established on 1 June 1974, the bank says, to carry out the independent monetary policy and financial sector supervisory functions entrusted to the Bahamas after political independence from Great Britain in 1973. That date is the dividing line most Bahamian collections are built around: anything with the Bahamas Government or Bahamas Monetary Authority imprint is pre-1974 paper.

Why do the Bahamas have a three dollar note?

The three dollar note has been part of the Bahamian dollar family since the first decimal notes, cataloged under the Currency Note Act 1965, and it has never been withdrawn. It sits alongside two other survivors of the same era, the half dollar note and the fifteen cent coin. The Central Bank still issues all three.

The bank is blunt about this in its own frequently asked questions. Asked whether it still issues the half dollar and three dollar banknotes and the fifteen cent coin, the Central Bank answers yes, and adds that while many view these as collector's items, the denominations remain legal tender and are readily available for issue (Central Bank of The Bahamas, Issuer of Banknotes and Coins).

The modern three dollar note has been redesigned twice. The 1984 issue is carmine, 156 mm by 67 mm, with an engraved border around a portrait of the Queen, a Spanish Galleon watermark, an outline map of the Bahamas in the centre, and a Family Island Regatta on the back with a Bahamian sloop at the lower left (Central Bank of The Bahamas, Banknotes). Its replacement arrived on 28 March 2019, the first redesign of the denomination since 1984, and the fifth note in the CRISP Evolution family, with the Queen on the front, a passion flower in the centre and sailboats at sea on the back (Coin World).

What is the Bahamas half dollar note?

The half dollar, written $1/2 on the note itself, is a fifty cent banknote. Like the three dollar note it survives from the decimal changeover, and like the three dollar note the Central Bank still issues it. Both the 2001 design and the CRISP Evolution replacement put a Nassau market scene on the back.

The 2001 issue is moss-green, charcoal-grey and dark turquoise, with a Spanish Galleon watermark at the right, basketwork from the straw market at the left, and a picture on the back of Sister Sarah in the Nassau Market, framed by a border that includes a hand of bananas at the bottom left. The CRISP Evolution half dollar is predominantly grey with green, blue, coral, lilac and red, carries a watermark of Queen Elizabeth II and the numeral $1/2, places a Strongback flower in the centre, and moves Sister Sarah to the Straw Market on the back (Central Bank of The Bahamas, Banknotes).

For a collector this is the cheapest way into the country. A fifty cent note is a fifty cent note wherever it comes from, and a pair of them, one from each design, shows the whole modernisation story on a single page of an album. Our guide to banknote security features explains what changed between the two.

What is the CRISP series?

CRISP stands for Counterfeit Resistant Integrated Security Product. It is the name the Central Bank of The Bahamas gave to the family of notes it rolled out from 2005, the first Bahamian series designed with security features tailored to each individual denomination so that a forger cannot raise a low value note to a high one.

The rollout is documented note by note in the bank's own press releases. The CRISP $10 was introduced on 3 August 2005. The CRISP $20 followed on 6 September 2006, described by the bank as the second denomination in the family and carrying a denomination specific watermark of Sir Milo B. Butler (Central Bank of The Bahamas, 20 September 2006). The CRISP $50 came third, released on 13 December 2006 with a watermark of Roland T. Symonette (Central Bank of The Bahamas, 15 December 2006). The bank later described the whole first modernisation as taking place between 2005 and 2009.

The CRISP notes are the ones that introduced the modern cast of Bahamian portraits. Sir Lynden O. Pindling on the $1 with the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band on the back, Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield on the $5 with junkanooers, Sir Stafford Sands on the $10 with Hope Town in Abaco, Sir Milo B. Butler on the $20 with Nassau Harbour, Sir Roland T. Symonette on the $50 with the Central Bank's own building in Nassau, and Queen Elizabeth II on the $100 with a blue marlin leaping out of the water (Central Bank of The Bahamas, Banknotes).

What is the CRISP Evolution series?

CRISP Evolution is the second modernisation of Bahamian banknotes. It keeps most of the CRISP portraits and subjects but rebuilds the colours, the substrates and the security features. It began with the $10 note in 2016 and finished with the $100 note in October 2021.

The Governor's remarks at the $100 launch set out the sequence and the suppliers by name. CRISP, he confirmed, is an acronym for counterfeit resistant, integrated security product, and the Evolution series is the second revamp of all widely circulating Bahamian notes, the first having taken place between 2005 and 2009. The $100 was produced on Landqart's Durasafe substrate, carries a Crane Currency Motion Surface stripe on the back, uses SICPA security inks and was optimised and printed by Canadian Bank Note Company (Central Bank of The Bahamas, 7 October 2021).

The intermediate dates are well recorded in the trade press. The $20 was introduced on 27 September 2018, printed by De La Rue, and was nominated for the International Bank Note Society's Banknote of the Year award for 2018 (International Bank Note Society). The $3 arrived on 28 March 2019, the $50 on 12 October 2019 and the $5 on 26 September 2020, and the $100 released on 6 October 2021 completed the eight note family (Coin World).

Bahamian banknote issuers and series at a glance

The table sets the issuers and the modern families side by side. Dates are those given by the Central Bank of The Bahamas in its press releases and banknote pages, or by the catalog heading under which the notes are listed.

Every note in both modern families measures 156 mm by 67 mm, which is why a Bahamian set sits so neatly in an album. The Central Bank lists the exact colours, watermarks and vignettes for each denomination on its banknotes page.

Who is on Bahamian banknotes?

Bahamian notes carry national figures rather than a single monarch. Sir Lynden O. Pindling is on the $1, Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield on the $5, Sir Stafford L. Sands on the $10, Sir Milo B. Butler on the $20, Sir Roland T. Symonette on the $50 and Arthur D. Hanna on the CRISP Evolution $100. Queen Elizabeth II remains on the half dollar and the three dollar notes.

The backs are just as local. The CRISP Evolution $1 shows a Drum Major in full regalia leading the Royal Bahamas Police Force band. The $5 reproduces the Bahamian artist Delton Barrett's likeness of a Junkanoo cowbeller in full costume. The $10 pairs the Hope Town Lighthouse in Abaco with two flamingoes. The $20 shows the tower at Festival Place overlooking Nassau Harbour, with the Sir Sidney Poitier and Paradise Island bridges. The $50 puts the Central Bank's own building on the note, and the $100 a blue marlin with other marine life (Central Bank of The Bahamas, Banknotes).

Each denomination also gets its own flower, which is the quickest way to identify a CRISP Evolution note across a table: Strongback on the half dollar, Lignum Vitae on the $1, passion flower on the $3, hibiscus on the $5, Yellow Elder on the $10, bougainvillea on the $20, frangipani on the $50 and Royal Poinciana on the $100. Our page on portraits on banknotes covers how countries choose the faces, and Queen Elizabeth II banknotes covers the wider Commonwealth picture.

What are old Bahamian banknotes worth?

Condition and issuer decide it. The pre-1974 notes of the Bahamas Government and the Bahamas Monetary Authority are the collectable end, and specimens command a strong premium over issued notes. The figures below are catalog values in US dollars from the PMG World Paper Money Price Guide, read in September 2026.

Two lessons sit in that table. The first is that signature combinations matter: the three signature three dollar note is cataloged well above the two signature version in the same grades. The second is that specimens are their own market, and the 1965 specimen is listed at more than twice the issued note in uncirculated grade. Catalog values are a reference point rather than a quote, and what determines banknote value explains the rest. Catalog numbers are Pick numbers, covered in our guide to Pick numbers.

How do you start collecting Bahamian banknotes?

Start with the oddities, because they are the reason most people look at the Bahamas at all. A half dollar and a three dollar note, one from the older design and one from CRISP Evolution, give you four notes that tell the whole story and cost very little compared with the older material.

From there, three routes open. The CRISP Evolution family is a realistic complete set: eight denominations, one design language, and a defined run from 2016 to 2021 with every issue date on the record. The CRISP family of 2005 to 2009 is the natural companion set and shows what changed. The pre-1974 material is the historical lane, and there the honest advice is to buy one good note with a clean signature combination rather than several tired ones.

Learn the grading ladder before you spend. Grades run from Uncirculated down through AU, XF, VF, F, VG and G, and the certified market uses a 1 to 70 scale: our banknote grading guide explains it, and graded versus raw banknotes covers when third party certification earns its cost. The banknote glossary defines specimens, prefixes and replacements, and how to store banknotes matters in a humid climate. Two neighbouring hubs are worth reading alongside this one: Bermuda banknotes and Belize banknotes. Because so much Bahamian paper was printed in Britain, our history of De La Rue and our Bank of England note history fill in the printing side.

Where can you buy Bahamian banknotes?

Buy from an established dealer that authenticates every note, documents where it came from, and stands behind it in writing. Prices far below every other seller, vague sourcing and no returns are the signals to walk away from. One thing not to expect: the Central Bank of The Bahamas states plainly on its banknotes page that it does not sell Bahamian banknotes to the general public.

Planet Banknote sources notes direct from mints, central banks and authorized distributors rather than reselling anonymous lots. Browse the current selection through the banknotes by country directory, where availability changes with what has been sourced, and see third-party certified pieces in the graded banknotes selection. Our guide to buying world banknotes safely and how to collect world banknotes cover the rest.

Planet Banknote is a family-owned dealership in Sarasota, Florida, founded in 2021. Every note is sourced direct from mints, central banks, and authorized distributors, inspected through our Planet Banknote Verified process, and ships with a free Certificate of Authenticity. US orders ship free via USPS Priority, and every order includes a free bonus gift.