5 Dollars - 1989 - P35a - B208a - Unc

Bermuda - 5 Dollars - 1989 - P35a - B208a - Uncirculated - Signature 7: Mann/Butterfield. Description: Colour: Red, purple, and green. Front: English text; starfish; Queen Conch (Lobatus gigas) shell; Queen Elizabeth II wearing Grand Duchess Vladimir’s tiara and Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee necklace; fish. Back: English text; coat of arms; lighthouse on Saint David’s Island; buildings and harbor on Saint George. Solid security thread with printed BERMUDA. Watermark: Tuna fish. Printer: (De La Rue). Size: 140 x 68 mm. Material: Paper

Although they bear the same date and signatures, there is a silver patch beneath the director’s signature on B208 (left) which does not appear on B209 (right). The 5-dollar note originally bore the signature of BMA board member Edgar Wilkinson, but the day before its introduction, Wilkinson was caught attempting to leave the country with a large amount of undeclared cash and he was forced to resign. Notes with his signature were overprinted with a silver “scratch-and-sniff fish” bearing the signature of Richard Butterfield instead. No notes with Wilkinson’s signature are known to exist.