Artist’s preliminary design and colour for the $100 banknote
Banknotes
The Reserve Bank, not the Decimal Currency Board, was given the responsibility for the design of the decimal currency banknotes first issued in 1967. The new $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, and $100 banknotes were designed by a New Zealand committee in consultation with banknote printers Thomas De La Rue and Company of London.
They all featured the same design on the front, a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and a watermark depicting Captain James Cook. This was the first New Zealand paper money to show the reigning monarch. This portrait of the Queen was widely used throughout the Commonwealth. The engraving was based on a photograph taken in 1960, when the Queen was 34.
The new notes stated that “This note is legal tender for” its specific value rather than “Promises to pay on demand” in gold and silver.
Each denomination had a different design of native birds and plants on the reverse and was distinguished by colour. They were embellished with detailed geometric patterns, including Māori iconography, to make them less vulnerable to counterfeiting.
The note designs were tightly guarded by the Reserve Bank and released in June 1967. Only a month before ‘DC Day’. The Reserve Bank was keen to avoid giving any advantage to would-be counterfeiters.
The decimal coins designs were commissioned by the Decimal Currency Board. They were designed by James Berry, with the designs confirmed by the Committee in 1966.
A new effigy of Queen Elizabeth II was on the front of each coin. This effigy was also used by other Commonwealth countries in the 1960s. The back featured native flora and fauna, and historical and cultural icons.
The coins were minted by the Royal Mint in London. The designs were pressed onto coins using a stamp called a die. An engraving machine cuts the design into a master punch, which is used to produce working dies.
The minting was not without issue. Some of the 2-cent coins had ‘Bahama Islands’ mistakenly printed on them. There were also reports of coins with their edges clipped, stamped off-centre, with only one side stamped, or stamped in the wrong metal. 6,000 coins were withdrawn and melted down.
