100 Dollars 2008, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
| in Krause book | Number: 51 |
| Years of issue: | 2008 |
| Edition: | 10 000 000 |
| Signatures: | Governor: Sir K Dwight Venner |
| Serie: | No Serie |
| Specimen of: | 2008 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 145 х 69 |
| Printer: | TDLR (Thomas de la Rue & Company), London |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
HM The Queen Elizabeth II.
Text "ECCB".
Avers:
HM The Queen Elizabeth II. The photograph that was used of the Queen was taken in April 1975 by the late Reading-based photographer Peter Grugeon and later released for official use during the Silver Jubilee in 1977. It is one of the more popular images of The Queen. (Peter Symes).
Her Majesty is depicted wearing Grand Duchess Vladimir's tiara, Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee necklace, the Royal Family Orders of King George VI and George V and Queen Alexandra's Wedding Earrings.
The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara.
No tiara is complete without a fascinating backstory, and this one's even got a daring escape. Made by Bolin, it glittered at the Russian royal court on the head of Grand Duchess Vladimir until the revolution, when it was left behind as the family fled. A British agent and friend smuggled it out of Russia to rejoin the exiled Grand Duchess and her collection. After her death, the tiara was bought from her daughter by Queen Mary. It's worn often today by the Queen with pearl or emerald drops, or occasionally with no drops. The pearl drop option has been the most popular with the Queen in recent years, probably owing to her love of white gowns in the evening and accompanying white jewels.
To mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, a committee of ladies was formed to raise money for a commemorative statue of Victoria’s late husband Prince Albert. The committee’s fundraising was quite successful, and they ended up raising far more than was required for the statue. An agreement was formed with the Queen that the excess should go to the St. Katherine’s Fund for Nurses. At the same time, some members of the committee decided that a portion of the funds should be used to purchase a necklace for the Queen - and this was also approved by Her Majesty.
The trouble was, the committee did not agree on the necklace. Some felt it would be wrong to spend the funds which had been previously devoted to charity on something else. Much discussion and debate ensued, as is described in depth in Hugh Roberts’ book The Queen’s Diamonds. (My favorite tidbit: Queen Victoria, angry that she wouldn’t get her promised necklace, shot down the prospect of a diamond badge commemorating the nursing fund by declaring she would “at once exchange it for another jewel”.
In the end, a compromise was reached and this necklace, made for £5000 (far less than the necklace originally proposed) from gold, diamonds, and pearls by Carrington & Co. was presented to Queen Victoria in 1888. It features a central quatrefoil diamond motif with a large pearl in the middle, topped by a crown and underlined with a drop pearl. The next four links in either direction are graduated trefoil motifs; the central piece and the six largest trefoils can also be worn as brooches.
She is also wearing Queen Alexandra’s Cluster Earrings. The wedding gift from the future King Edward VII to his bride, Alexandra of Denmark. Also known as Queen Alexandra's Cluster Earrings, these two button earrings have large pearls surrounded by diamonds - 10 larger stones each plus smaller filler stones to create a full diamond ring. Like the brooch, these passed to the Queen via Queen Mary. They're now worn primarily at evening functions.
Royal Family Orders.
King George IV started a practice in the British royal family which continues today: the awarding of family orders. These are diamond-set portraits of the monarch suspended from a silk bow (the color varying by reign), and they are today given to female royal family members of the sovereign's choosing as a personal gift.
Queen Elizabeth was first given her grandfather George V's order, set on pale blue silk.
Followed by her father George VI's, on pink silk, and she wears them both today. (A royal lady can wear all the family orders she has at once.) The orders are positioned on the left shoulder. They are worn for the most formal events, and can usually be seen on the Queen when she's at a tiara event.
In most renditions of this portrait, the Royal Family Order of King George VI is apparent below the left-hand shoulder of Her Majesty, while the uppermost portion of the Royal Family Order of King George V is apparent in only some renditions of the portrait. (Her majesty's Jewel Vault)
Top right is the Green-throated Carib.
The Green-throated Carib (Eulampis holosericeus) is a species of hummingbird found throughout the Caribbean region.
It is found in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, north-east Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Centered is the building of the Central Bank in Antigua.
Below - The Sea Turtle. The Cheloniidae are a family of sea turtles belonging to the sea turtle superfamily Chelonioidea. It was named by Nicolaus Michael Oppel in 1811.
Lower left is Chaetodon capistratus.
The foureye butterflyfish (Chaetodon capistratus) is a butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is alternatively called the four-eyed butterflyfish. This species is found in the Western Atlantic from Massachusetts, USA and Bermuda to the West Indies and northern South America.
Foureye butterfly fish are deep-bodied and laterally compressed, with a single dorsal fin and a small mouth with tiny, bristle like teeth. The body is light grey, sometimes with a yellowish hue, and dark forward-pointing chevrons. The ventral fins are yellow. The species gets its common name from a large dark spot on the rear portion of each side of the body. This spot is surrounded by a brilliant white ring, resembling an eye. A black vertical bar on the head runs through the true eye, making it hard to see.
This pattern may result in a predator confusing the back end of the fish for the front end. The foureye butterflyfish's first instinct when threatened is to flee, putting the false eye spot closer to the predator than the head. Most predators aim for the eyes, and this false eye spot may trick the predator into believing that the fish will flee tail first. Other potential functions of the eye spot exist. The eye spots are larger and more variable than the real eye and eye spot shape varies from vertically oval in young to more circular in adults. These features suggest other possible functions of the eye spot including: intimidating prey, altering predation reaction distances, disorinting predators, serving as a general warning, or for social communication. When escape is not possible, a foureye butterflyfish will sometimes turn to face its aggressor, head lowered and spines fully erect, like a bull about to charge. This may serve to intimidate the other animal or may remind the predator that the butterfly fish is much too spiny to make a comfortable meal. 
Lower left, behind the foureye butterflyfish, are two Scissortail sergeants.
The scissortail sergeant or striptailed damselfish (Abudefduf sexfasciatus, family Pomacentridae) is a large damselfish. It earns its name from the black-striped tail and sides, which are reminiscent of the insignia of a military Sergeant, being similar to those of the Sergeant Major damselfish. It grows to a length of about 16 centimeters (6.3 in.).
Scissortail sergeants live on coral reefs at depths of up to 15 meters (49 ft.) in tropical reaches, often living in a group surrounding a single head of coral. They are found on reefs in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Red Sea.
The fish feed upon the larvae of invertebrates, zooplankton, smaller fishes, crustaceans, and various species of algae. They are preyed upon by some members of the Labridae and Serranidae families. They lay their eggs in patches on a firm substrate and guard them vigorously until they hatch.
In top right corner is stylized Hibiscus flower, applied on foil by gold paint with text EECB $100.
Denominations in numerals are in top left and lower right corners, in words centered.
Revers:
The map of east Caribbean islands is in center.
The engraving on banknote is based, presumably, after one of several photos, made during Nobel prize procedures in 1979.
Sir William Arthur Lewis (January 23, 1915 - June 15, 1991) was a Saint Lucian economist well known for his contributions in the field of economic development. In 1979 he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
In top right corner is the American black swift.
The American black swift or more simply black swift (Cypseloides niger) is a name given to birds that are found from northern British Columbia in Canada through the United States and Mexico to Costa Rica and Brazil. They are also found on islands in the West Indies.
In flight, these birds resemble a flying cigar with long slender curved wings. The plumage is mostly a sooty dark gray. There is some contrast between the upper and lower wing. The shoulders are much darker in color than the remaining portion of the wing. They also have short slightly forked tails.
Their breeding habitat is frequently associated with water. The birds most often nest on high cliff faces, either above the ocean surf or behind or next to waterfalls. The nest is made of twigs and moss glued together with mud. They will also use ferns and seaweed if available. The clutch size is one egg, with incubation lasting 23-27 days. Newly hatched young are probably fed multiple times a day, but older nestlings usually only once a day by each parent, most often at dusk. Adults spend the night roosting at or near the nest site.
These birds do migrate out of North America after the breeding season. It remains unclear where most of the birds spend the winter, although some of the birds have been tracked as far south as Brazil, migrating there from Colorado. Some of the birds in the West Indies appear to be permanent residents. They are late spring migrants into the breeding range, with Colorado breeders not arriving until the very end of May into June. Large flocks of migrants are occasionally seen spring and fall, but only very rarely far south of the U.S. breeding range.
American black swifts live on the wing, foraging in flight. They eat flying insects, primarily flying ants and beetles, often foraging in small groups.
The building of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. Headquartered in Basseterre (Basseterre) on St.Keats.
Construction of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Headquarters began in November 1992 and was completed in August 1994. The Headquarters is situated on 3 ½ acres of land overlooking the city of Basseterre, the capital of St.Kitts. The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, as the region’s monetary authority, is charged with the responsibilities of regulating banking business, monitoring the availability of money and credit and promoting and maintain monetary stability and economic development.
Lower right are the same fish, that on the front side.
Denominations are in top corners and lower.
Comments:
The De La Rue engraving, as well as reflecting the differences mentioned in Portrait 17a, also represents The Queen with a more cheerful aspect, achieving this through slight differences around Her eyes and lips.
Bradbury Wilkinson's version of this portrait has less shading on The Queen's neck just above Her necklace, than is apparent on the De La Rue engravings (Portrait 17b). There are other subtle variations to the second version, noticeably in the patterns on Her Majesty's dress.
On April 1, 2008, the East Caribbean Central Bank issued a new series of banknotes like the preceding issues, but omit both the bar code and the country code letterings which form part of the serial number on current notes. In 2012, the East Caribbean Central Bank issued a series of banknotes with Braille features in an effort to provide notes which are easier for blind and visually impaired persons to use. The raised Braille characters on the upgraded notes feature a Cricket theme in the form of balls and stumps. These characters have been added to the 10-, 20-, 50-, and 100 dollar notes.
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