27/12/2016

THE 5-DOLLAR TEMBUSU TREE


We have become so accustomed to cash exchanges in our daily grind that we no longer pay our dollar bills a second look. The next time you fish out the green five-dollar bill from your wallet, do spare a few seconds to examine it. While the front design features the first President of Singapore Encik Yusof bin Ishak as do all bills from the Portrait series, the back design theme is Garden City with a Tembusu tree of a long outstretched low-lying branch.

This is our 5-Dollar Tembusu tree. It is not just a default artist’s illustration. As a matter of fact it is a feature of Singapore’s most famous Tembusu tree. Located near the Tanglin entrance of the Botanic Gardens, it is believed to have existed long before the gardens was officially laid out in 1859. That puts the tree at close to two centuries old!

With its low lying branch to sit on and boundless green backdrop, this old Tembusu has long been a popular site for family portraits and outdoor wedding photo shoots. The tree has been inducted into the Heritage Trees of Singapore, which was launched in 2001 to identify and safeguard mature trees that serve as important green landmarks in our natural heritage.

read more

"Tembusu Heritage Tree" of Singapore

The "Tembusu Heritage Tree" is not an ordinary Tembusu tree. It is our Singapore heritage tree at Botanic Gardens!

A Tembusu graces Singapore currency as well.

The $5 note features a Tembusu of Heritage Tree status growing in the Botanic Gardens

read more

Picture of the Tembusu tree on the Singapore $5 dollar note

Coming back to the Tembusu trees, you are probably carrying a picture of a famous Tembusu in your pocket.

This tree in the Botanic Gardens is featured on the back of the $5 note.

The front of this $5 note has a picture of President Yusof bin Ishak.

read more

5 interesting facts about Singapore dollar notes that you probably didn’t know

The $5 note tree still stands

The tree on the $5 note is not some legendary tree as you might think, and since it’s already SG50 this year, the tree is probably somewhere rotting or non-existing anymore today. You are wrong.

The tree, known as the Tembusu tree, is still standing tall in the Botanic Gardens and have been featured previously in 2002 in one of the 4 heritage-tree stamps that was issued.

read more

The artist of the $50 note

Take a $50 bill and look at the back of it.

Do you see a pair of gibbons swinging through vines?

Most Singaporeans will have missed the painting by the late Chen Wen Hsi, one of Singapore's pioneer artists.

read more

The Tanglin Halt flats & a 1-dollar note
The Tanglin Halt flats
A 1-dollar note

Iconic landmarks in Singapore have been commonly used as the back designs of the former and current Singapore currency notes. Examples are the Supreme Court Building, Clifford Pier, Victoria Theatre, The Istana, Benjamin Sheares Bridges and Changi Airport, which have all been used as motifs in the previous Orchid, Bird and Ship series.

The dollar notes’ motif designs sometimes also tell a Singapore’s history. For instance, the back of the Orchid Series’ 1-dollar note, released in mid-1967, features the Tanglin Halt flats, which were built in 1962.

Fondly known as chup lau chu (“10-storey building” in Hokkien), these early HDB flats had existed for more than 50 years but eventually could not stand the test of time. Most of its tenants had moved out since 2008, and the vacant blocks will be demolished by end of 2015.

read more

BEAUTIFUL BANKNOTES
It might be the root of all evil, but money can also be a thing of beauty. We take a look at some of the most remarkable banknotes from around the world:

read more

The changing face of the Singapore Dollar
A $10 Malaya and British Borneo banknote issued in 1961. Photo: Nuria Ling/TODAY

Following years of searching, avid banknote collector Patrick Loh finally got his hands on what he described as one of his most prized possessions: A $10 dollar note issued in 1961 by the Malaya and British Borneo Board of Commissioners of Currency, and pre-dating Singapore’s independence.

“I got my first piece probably about five to six years back. I paid over S$1,000 for it,” the 47-year-old engineer said.

Mr Loh estimates that his collection of more than 1,000 banknotes is worth over S$100,000. It is kept in a safe at home. “In the event of an emergency, besides worrying about my life, the first thing in my mind would be to grab my collection before I run. It’s not so much because of the monetary value but its sentimental value,” said the father of three.

related: The man who designed S’pore’s longest-running currency series

read more