These notes are from Series 661 and were used in SE Asia. I have several other circulated examples of these that my father brought back from his service there.
The One Dollar note from this series had an attractive woman with a then in style "bouffant" hairdo.
The vignette on this Series 661 Five Dollar note looks curiously 19th century in dress, while some of the vignettes on the notes issued in the late 1950's and early 1960's were borrowed from earlier Silver Certificate issued in the 19th century, this design seems contemporary to the mid 1960's. Notice the head of a young woman on the reverse of the note too.
This particular denomination in this series is actually very rare, it is also very fascinating for the feminine vignettes used on this note, the vignette on the front of the note is "Union" by G.F.C. Smilie. This work is an old one, it was also used on the large sized National Currency $20 in the early part of the century. The reverse is Ceres, another work by G.F.C. Smilie, this particular vignette was also used on the Series 521 $10, but an earlier adaptation of it was used on a Standard Bank of Canada $5 printed by ABNCo in 1914.
Whilst the young attractive lady on the front of the $20 note is mysteriously unknown, she was engraved by F.T. Howe. The reverse is a better known work, The Bouquet by Edward R. Felver. This reverse vignette was prominent on the front of the Bank of the Philippine Islands 50 Peso note used early in the 20th century, but designed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington D.C.
Nice Job SM.... Too bad the $10 is not as choice as the rest of them... That $10 in Gem65 goes for 1600-1800.00...it is the rare note of that Series! RickieB
IMHO the $10 is nicer than the $20, but the $20 is easily found the $10 is a PITA to find in any grade.
Congrats SM - Some day I am going to work on the 681 series which seems to be fairly easy to put together. You have put together a really nice collection!
