20 Dinars

The Bahrain Monetary Agency was established by decree in 1973, the same year this note was issued, replacing the Bahrain Currency Board and taking on the dual role of monetary authority and de facto central bank. This was Bahrain's first proper regulatory institution with the powers to manage credit and banking supervision — not merely print currency — and the 20 Dinar denomination represented the top of the new agency's inaugural series.

Thomas De La Rue's production for this issue relied on a single watermark as the primary security feature, modest by even 1973 standards. Bahrain later moved toward significantly more complex security specifications in subsequent series.