1 Dollar - Elizabeth II

The Bahamas Government issued this series while still a British colony, just two years before the introduction of the Bahamian dollar as an independent decimal currency in 1966. That transition — driven in part by pressure to abandon the pounds-shillings-pence system ahead of anticipated independence — made this 1965 series short-lived almost by design. Notes signed by both the Sands/Higgs and the Francis/Higgs/Smiley-Butler combinations exist within the same pick number, reflecting mid-run changes in the Treasury's signing officers rather than separate printings.

De La Rue's watermark security on this issue is a simple counterfeiting deterrent by the standards of the period; the colonial administration never anticipated the note circulating long enough to justify more elaborate measures.