5 Dollars 1978, Bermuda
| in Krause book | Number: 29a |
| Years of issue: | 01.04.1978 |
| Edition: | 780 538 |
| Signatures: | Chairman: Mr. Dudley St. George Butterfield, Managing Director: Mr.Allen J. Humphreys |
| Serie: | 1974 - 1982 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 01.04.1978 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 140 х 70 |
| 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:
Tuna fish (Thunnus). It is a genus of ocean-dwelling ray-finned bony fish from the Scombridae (Mackerel) family.
Avers:
HM The Queen Elizabeth II.
This portrait of Her Majesty is adapted from a photograph, taken prior to a Royal Tour of India and Pakistan by Anthony Buckley in October 1960, and it is one of the more widely used images of The Queen.(Peter Symes)
I found this image here "National Portrait Gallery". The portrait on banknote is, probably, taken from this photo session.
Her Majesty is shown wearing Queen Alexandra's Kokoshnik Tiara, the King George VI Festoon Necklace, and Queen Mary's Floret Earrings.
The Kokoshnik Tiara, which is sometimes known as the Russian Fringe Tiara, was designed in the style of a Russian peasant girl's headdress. The design of the Kokoshnik tiara was based on a similar tiara, owned by Queen Alexandra's sister, The Empress of Russia. Created by "Garrard", the tiara has sixty-one platinum bars set with 488 diamonds. The tiara was presented to Queen Alexandra, while still a princess, on the occasion of her silver wedding anniversary. It was a gift from three hundred and sixty-five peeresses of the realm. The Festoon Necklace was created from one hundred and five diamonds, at the request of King George VI, from diamonds he inherited on becoming King.
In 1950, King George VI had a diamond necklace created for his daughter Princess Elizabeth using 105 loose collets that were among the Crown heirlooms he inherited. (These, according to Hugh Roberts, had been used by Queen Mary to change the lengths of her multiple diamond collet necklaces, hence their loose status in the collection.) The end result is this take on a triple strand necklace: three strands of graduated collets suspended between two diamond triangles, with a single collet strand at the back. This is also called simply the Queen’s Festoon Necklace, though I’ll use George VI’s name to be a little more specific.
Even though her collection of diamond necklaces has vastly increased since 1950, this is still a favorite with the Queen and she wears it on a fairly regular basis."From her Majesty's Jewel vault".
These diamond and platinum earrings are another example of the multiple changes Queen Mary made to her jewels. The large central stones are the Mackinnon diamonds, a pair of solitaire earrings that were a wedding gift from Sir William Mackinnon to Mary for her wedding in 1893.
The stones were then set as the center of another pair, Queen Mary's Cluster Earrings. Later on, they were replaced and a new setting was created by Garrard, Queen Mary's Floret Earrings. In their new setting, each one is surrounded by seven slightly smaller diamonds. The earrings were inherited by the Queen on Queen Mary's death in 1953. She wears them for occasions like the State Opening of Parliament, the Garter Day ceremony, and other formal events. "From her Majesty's Jewel vault".
The Coat of arms of Bermuda in the middle.
It depicts a red lion holding a shield that has a depiction of a wrecked ship upon it. The red lion is a symbol of England and alludes to Bermuda’s relationship with that country. The wrecked ship is the Sea Venture, the flagship of the Virginia Company. The ship was deliberately driven on to the reefs of Bermuda, by Admiral Sir George Somers, in 1609, to prevent it from foundering in a storm. All aboard survived, resulting in the settlement of the island. The Latin motto under the coat of arms, Quo Fata Ferunt, means “Whither the Fates Carry [Us]”.
Right behind the Queen, in the corner, is flower Passiflora caerulea.
Passiflora caerulea (blue passion flower, common passion flower) is a species of flowering plant native to South America (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil). It is a vigorous, deciduous or semi-evergreen tendril vine growing to 10 m (33 ft) or more, with palmate leaves and fragrant, blue-white flowers with a prominent fringe of coronal filaments in bands of blue, white, and brown. The ovoid orange fruit, growing to 6 cm. (2 in.), is edible but bland.
This popular and showy plant has attracted a number of common names. In Paraguay it is widely known as mburucuyá in Guaraní. Other names include blue crown, flower of five wounds, southern beauty, wild apricot, Jesus flower. The specific epithet caerulea means "blue" and refers to the blue coronal filaments.
P. caerulea is a woody vine capable of growing to 15-20 m. high where supporting trees are available. The leaves are alternate, palmately five-lobed like a spread hand (sometimes three or seven lobes), 10-18 cm. long and wide. The base of each leaf has a flagellate-twining tendril 5-10 cm. long, which twines around supporting vegetation to hold the plant up.
The flower is complex, about 10 cm. in diameter, with the five sepals and petals similar in appearance, whitish in colour, surmounted by a corona of blue or violet filaments, then five greenish-yellow stamens and three purple stigmas. The fruit is an oval orange-yellow berry 6 cm. long by 4 cm. in diameter, containing numerous seeds; it is eaten, and the seeds spread by mammals and birds. It is edible to humans, but bland in flavour. In tropical climates, it will flower all year round. 
On the background is sea shell Lobatus gigas, commonly known as the queen conch, is a species of large edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family of true conches, the Strombidae. This species is one of the largest molluscs native to the tropical northwestern Atlantic, from Bermuda to Brazil, reaching up to 35.2 centimeters (13.9 in.) in shell length. L. gigas is closely related to the goliath conch, Lobatus goliath, a species endemic to Brazil, as well as the rooster conch, Lobatus gallus.
The queen conch is herbivorous and lives in seagrass beds, although its exact habitat varies by development stage. The adult animal has a very large, solid and heavy shell, with knob-like spines on the shoulder, a flared thick, outer lip and a characteristic pink-coloured aperture (opening). The flared lip is absent in younger specimens. The external anatomy of the soft parts of L. gigas is similar to that of other snails in its family; it has a long snout, two eyestalks with well-developed eyes, additional sensory tentacles, a strong foot and a corneous, sickle-shaped operculum.
The shell and soft parts of living L. gigas serve as a home to several different kinds of commensal animals, including slipper snails, porcelain crabs and cardinalfish. Its parasites include coccidians. The queen conch is hunted and eaten by several species of large predatory sea snails, and also by starfish, crustaceans and vertebrates (fish, sea turtles and humans). Its shell is sold as a souvenir and used as a decorative object. Historically, Native Americans and indigenous Caribbean peoples used parts of the shell to create various tools.
International trade in queen conch is regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) agreement, in which it is listed as Strombus gigas. This species is not endangered in the Caribbean as a whole, but is commercially threatened in numerous areas, largely due to extreme overfishing.
Denominations in numerals are in all corners. In words in center.
Revers:
On left side is St.Davids Lighthouse, Bermuda.
To get to St.Davids Lighthouse Bermuda, you need to reach St Davids at the far east of the island. St Davids Lighthouse stands on the highest point on the Eastern tip of the island standing on 208 feet above the sea level. It sends its beam 20 miles over the ocean. It was built on a hill top and not on the coastline to ensure longest visibility. It was built in 1879 mainly to provide signals to the ships so that they didn't come too close to the hidden reefs in the water. It still serves as a beacon for the mariners.
The construction of the lighthouse had an interesting background. In the earlier days, the locals here had a practice of wrongly guiding passing ships during nighttime by using some sort of lights. They lured the ships to come close to underwater reefs trying to get them wrecked. If done, that would become an easy prey for them to loot. St. David's Lighthouse was originally built to stop this practice. And when the lighthouse actually defeated such illegal activities, most of them became good fishermen and even expert sailors.
It took 3 years to build this 55-foot structure and the light was activated in 1879. The original kerosene lamp with an ordinary wick was replaced by a petroleum burner in 1922. Today it also acts as the finishing line for such major yacht races as the Newport Bermuda.
From the balcony at the top, the view is spectacular. There are some 85 odd steps and the climb is relatively easy. You can see the beautiful countryside, Atlantic towards south, Ruth’s Bay to the southwest, and St. George’s to the north. By the way, the movie "The Deep" used this lighthouse in their story.
On right side is the view on St.George's harbour.
St. George's (formally, the Town of St. George, or St. George's Town), located on the island and within the parish of the same names, settled in 1612, was the first permanent English settlement on the islands of Bermuda. It is often described as the third successful English settlement in the Americas, after St. John's, Newfoundland, and Jamestown, Virginia. In fact, although English fisherman had begun setting up seasonal camps in Newfoundland in the 16th Century, they were expressly forbidden from establishing permanent settlements, and the town of St. John's was not established until circa 1620. Jamestown, also, did not exist until 1619. Prior to that, its settlers were obliged to live within James Fort. St. George's, claimed to be the oldest continuously-inhabited English town in the New World, is also suggested to have been the first.
Denominations in numerals are in lower left and top right corners. In words in lower right corner.
Comments:
Interesting fact:
Bermuda named after their discoverer, the Spanish explorer Juan Bermudez, who visited them in 1503. However, sharpen its focus on them the Spaniards did not. And in 1609 there appeared the English colonists. The reason for their appearance - a shipwreck. Officially Bermuda are ruled England from 1684.
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