To avoid confusion, Officially, Malaysia only has 4 series banknotes based on the overall design. For those of us who are collectors or dealers, Malaysia has 12 Series of banknotes based on minor changes.
Today I will be focusing on the banknote issue during the 1982 to 1998 period. During this period, the banknote undergoes 3 minor changes, so to colletor, the banknote during this period is 5th,6th, and 7th Series.
On 1 September 1982, Bank Negara Malaysia issued two currency denominations, $20 and $500, valid for tender, adding to the denominations of $1, $5, $10, $50, $100, and $1,000 that were already in circulation. Being new banknotes, they had a new design that reflected Malaysian culture.
Overall Design
The basic design was inspired by decorations, wood engravings, and other traditional Malaysian handicrafts, as well as from vegetation found in the country. The tiger’s head watermark of earlier banknotes was replaced with a portrait of His Majesty the first King. These banknotes at the beginning are signed by Tan Sri Dato' Abdul Aziz Taha.
Denominations of $10, $50, and $100 were issued on 15 September 1983, and denominations of $1, $5, and $1,000 were issued on 16 January 1984 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the founding of Bank Negara Malaysia on 26 January 1984. Printed on the reverse of these second series banknotes were sketches of buildings and important landmarks in the capital city. Banknotes of this series were smaller than those of the previous series, for ease of handling and storage.
5th Series banknote
5th Series Banknotes issue between 1985-1994 were signed by Tan Sri Dato’ Jaffar bin Hussein. The additional security features were a more visible security thread, a bigger latent image of the denomination, a bigger transparent mark, and the serial number printed vertically in red ink and horizontally in black ink.
6th Series banknote
6th Series Banknotes issue between 1995-1998. On 1 January 1993, the one Ringgit banknote ceased to be produced. Those that were in circulation remained legal tender and were continued along with the one Ringgit coins until they finally exited from circulation.
Only $5, $10, $50, $100, $500, and $1,000 banknote were issue for the 6th Series banknote .
The 6th Series banknote was signed by Tan Sri Dato’ Ahmad Mohd. Don. However, the $500 and $1,000 banknotes were demonetized effective 1 July 1999 due to the 1997 financial crisis.
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