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1/4 Dinar 1968, Kuwait

in Krause book Number: 6
Years of issue: 20.04.1971
Edition:
Signatures: Governor of the Bank: Hamza Abbas, Finance Minister: Abdul Rahman al-Atiquel
Serie: 1968 Issue
Specimen of: 1968
Material: Cotton fiber
Size (mm): 118 x 70
Printer: Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited, New Malden

* All pictures marked magnify 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.

1/4 Dinar 1968

Description

Watermark:

watermark

Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah.

Avers:

1/4 Dinar 1968

صباح السالم الصباح‎

Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah (12 April 1913 – 31 December 1977) (Arabic: صباح السالم الصباح‎) was the Emir of Kuwait from 1965 to 1977, and youngest son of Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah. Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah succeeded his half-brother Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah upon his death on 24 November 1965. He suspended parliament in late August 1976 for 4 years, claiming it was acting against the nation. He died from cancer on 31 December 1977.

Prior to his ascension, he served as the president of the Police Directorate from 1953 to 1959, President of the public health department from 1959 to 1961, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1962 to 1963, and Prime Minister of Kuwait from 1963 to 1965. He was appointed as Crown Prince on 29 October 1962.

Revers:

1/4 Dinar 1968

Shuwaikh Port

Shuwaikh Port (Arabic: ميناء الشويخ‎, transliteration : Minaa' Shuweekh) is an urban industrial area within the Al Asimah Governorate (Capital Governorate) in Kuwait.

A number of Kuwait's ports, educational institutions, hospitals and several offices are hosted in the area. The major cargo ports are in Shuwaikh Port. In the 2011 census, 185 people were recorded as living in the district. The port is bordered by the industrial area, Shuwaikh proper, the educational district and the commercial district.

The core industrial area of Al-Shuwaikh contains the Friday market (Souq al-Juma) at Al-Rai place (Fourth Ring Road). It starts every Thursday in the afternoon and goes until Friday evening and sells clothes, accessories, furniture, carpets, animals, plants, antiques and souvenirs and new and used goods.

The area is known as the industrial section of Kuwait as most manufacturers can be found in that area. Car repairs are mostly located in this part of Kuwait. Also many car dealerships are located in this area. Houses in this area are usually from old times. The electric power station and water desalinization plant in the Port of Shuwaikh supply Kuwait city.

The Kuwait Free Trade Zone is located on Jamal Abdul Nasser road which connects Shuwaikh Port to Kuwait City.

Several hospitals can be found in Shuwaikh region – such as Al-Sabah Hospital and The Chest Hospital.

Other important places are the Gulf Bank of Kuwait, City Center shopping, KGL Transports, etc. Several major car dealer showrooms can be found in Shuwaikh Industrial Area.

Damaged battleships, Fishing trawlers and dhows from pre-Gulf War eras can be found along the shorelines near Shuwaikh Port.

The Port of Shuwaikh (also Ash-Ashuwaykh) is Kuwait's most important port. Located immediately west of Kuwait City, it lies on the southern shores of Kuwait Bay off the Persian Gulf.

The Kuwait Ports Authority manages and operates the Port of Shuwaikh. The Port of Shuwaikh serves ocean-going vessels at its deep-water berths, and it has ample modern container facilities. It is the country's most important commercial port and covers 320 hectares of land and 120 hectares of water surface. The Navigation Channel inside Kuwait Bay is dredged to a depth of 8.5 meters (minimum tide level), and it is about eight kilometers long. At any tide, the Port of Shuwaikh can receive vessels to 7.5 meters draft. At high tide, vessels to 9.5 meters draft can enter and leave the Port of Shuwaikh. The Port of Shuwaikh contains 21 berths with a total length of 4055 meters. Fourteen of the berths have a depth of 10 meters, four are 8.5 meters deep, and three have alongside depth of 6.7 meters. Cargo vessels travelling through the Port of Shuwaikh include merchant ships and other vessels that include liners, tramps, fishing trawlers, and small passenger ships as well as cargo-laden container and roll-on/roll-off vessels and barges.

Comments:

Following the rapid development of Kuwait’s economy it was deemed necessary by the Government of Kuwait to introduce a central bank to supervise the economy and its development. The Central Bank of Kuwait was created under Law No. 32 of 1968 and commenced operations on 1 April 1969, taking over the responsibilities of the Kuwait Currency Board. The notes of the Currency Board continued to circulate for some time, but ultimately a new series of banknotes was released under the authority of the Central Bank. The ¼-, ½- and 10-dinar notes were issued on 17 November 1970, while the 1- and 5-dinar notes were released on 20 April 1971.

The design on the front of each note in the new series is similar to the note it replaced, but the portrait of the new Amir, Sheik Sabah al-Salim al-Sabah who became head of state in 1965, replaces the portrait of his brother and dominates the note to the right. The text on the front of the notes has changed to reflect the new issuing authority and the law under which authority the notes are issued. The notes are now signed by the Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait and the Minister of Finance, with the signatories being Hamza Abbas and Abdul Rahman al-Atiquei. The signatures that appeared on all notes, when they were first issued, were printed in black ink. However, on the ¼- and ½-dinar notes the signatures later became part of the intaglio plate printing. Consequently, there are two varieties of notes for both denominations. The ¼-dinar has black or brown signatures and the ½-dinar has black or purple signatures.

The back of each note is also of a similar design to the notes they replaced, but whereas the first issue had monochrome illustrations, enhanced colour designs have been added to the back of each note in this series. For three of the five notes in this issue the same illustration is used on the back of the notes as for the first issue. However, the cement factory on the back of the 1-dinar note has made way for the illustration of an oil refinery, and the street-level view of limited income houses on the earlier 5-dinar note has made way for an aerial view of a housing estate of limited income houses. The use of the oil refinery in place of the cement products factory on the 1-dinar note shows a measure of development in Kuwait’s economy between the two issues. The 10-dinar note also has a subtle example of progress between the two issues. On the back of the 10-dinar note of the first issue the boum (dhow) has an old Kuwaiti flag flying astern of the vessel. On the new note the modern flag of Kuwait takes its place. The old flag had a scarlet field with a white stripe along the hoist. The word ‘Kuwait’ was written in Arabic in the centre of the flag and the words ‘There is no god but Allah’ was written in white adjacent to the white stripe along the hoist. The new flag was introduced by Amiri Decree No.26 1961 and announced in the Government Gazette of 10 September 1961. It is a horizontal tricolour of green, white and red, with a black trapezoid at the hoist.

A portrait of Sheik Sabah is used as the watermark to the left of the notes, with the watermark being a mirror image of the portrait that appears on the front of the note. The security thread continues to be a ‘Morse code’ thread, spelling "Kuwait". The serial numbers for the notes of the second issue have a prefix of the letter ‘ب’ (baa) over a number, followed by a six digit number. The second issue was withdrawn from 1 February, 1982, and ceased to be a legal tender on 31 May, 1982. (www.pjsymes.com.au)