Catalog
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| Issuer | National Reserve Bank of Tonga |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992-1995 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Olive-green and blue on multicolour underprint. A central intaglio-style vignette presents a panoramic landscape of a Tongan coastal village with palm trees and rolling hills receding to a bay. Denomination numeral "$1" appears in guilloche cartouches at upper right and lower right, with an ornate rosette at centre right. The issuer title runs across the top border and a legal tender clause is inscribed in a panel at the foot of the vignette. |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The National Reserve Bank of Tonga was established in 1989, replacing the Bank of Tonga, and this series reflects that institutional transition — the new issuing authority's name appearing on notes that otherwise followed closely the design conventions of their predecessors. Thomas De La Rue had printed Tongan currency for decades by this point, a relationship that gave the kingdom's notes a consistency unusual among Pacific island states of comparable size.
Tonga's currency has never been decimalized in the conventional sense — the Pa'anga and Seniti system introduced in 1967 replaced pounds but was designed with a 100-seniti base from the outset, sidestepping the messy conversions that troubled other Commonwealth transitions.