Interesting Facts about Goh Keng Swee (GKS) signed Orchid Notes

Paul Zhuang Oct 2013

Did you know that:

1. The seal on currency notes first appeared in 1970. The notes bore the seal and signature of Dr Goh Keng Swee (GKS), then Chairman of BCCS.

2. Dr Goh was reappointed as the Minister of Finance in 1967 when the British announced in July 1967 of their impending military withdrawal. Dr Goh was tasked to deal with the loss of 20% of the GDP with the withdrawal of the military spending. He also needed to weigh the total claims of the Ministry of Defence on the budget as against the claims by other ministries and in the context of the development of the whole economy.
The basic principles of Singapore's defence budget was subsequently established during his tenure together with the implementation of export oriented development policies.

3. GKS signed orchid notes are the rarest amongst the signatures as compared to Lim Kim San and Hon Sui Sen, as he was in office the shortest period of time. This made his signature the most scarce and as such the most valuable within the orchid series.

4. The highest price ever paid for a single GKS signed Orchid note (before auction premium of 18%) was S$2,800 for a GKS $10 Orchid note with solid 8s serial number. This was transacted in March 2012. This has recently been surpassed at a recent auction in Oct 2013 whereby a yet to be graded GKS $5 Orchid went for a nice $3,900 (before auction premium of 18%).

5. The $5 and $100 are the most sought after denominations of the GKS Orchid Series. The rest of the denominations such as the $1, $10 and $50 are also highly collectible, but are preferred in running series. 

6. GKS Orchid Notes in the local numismatic community has often been described as a stable blue chip 'investment' as their prices have stably increased over the years. This to me is very important as it is not subject to wild price fluctuations we may witness in certain segments of the numismatic market. 

7. GKS Orchid Notes are also in relatively high demand from overseas collectors. 

Hope the interesting facts above have provided some useful information on Orchid Notes for you. Thanks for reading!


Sincerely
Paul's Numismatic Passions