The Solomon Islands Monetary Authority issued this note during a period when the country was still finding its monetary footing — independence had come only in 1978, and the SIMA was itself a transitional body, replaced by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands just two years after this series appeared. Thomas De La Rue's involvement was the norm for newly independent Pacific island states throughout the 1970s and 1980s; the London firm printed for dozens of emerging central banks simultaneously, and the Solomon Islands relationship was no exception.
P#12 is the sole 20-dollar type from the SIMA period, making it a short-lived denomination within an already short-lived issuing authority.
The Solomon Islands Monetary Authority issued this note during a period when the country was still finding its monetary footing — independence had come only in 1978, and the SIMA was itself a transitional body, replaced by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands just two years after this series appeared. Thomas De La Rue's involvement was the norm for newly independent Pacific island states throughout the 1970s and 1980s; the London firm printed for dozens of emerging central banks simultaneously, and the Solomon Islands relationship was no exception.
P#12 is the sole 20-dollar type from the SIMA period, making it a short-lived denomination within an already short-lived issuing authority.