The current Bahraini Dinar dates to 1965. The currency used before the Dinar was the Indian Rupee. However due to gold smuggling coming from the middle east the Indian Rupee became scarce due to the Rupee being shipped out of India, to the middle east. Eventually the short-lived Gulf Rupee was introduced. It had a similar appearance to the Indian Rupee but, was designated for use in the Gulf area. They came in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 100 Rupees. They had very basic designs with an image of the Indian coat of arms which consists of 4 lions heads and they still read “Bank of India”. They did not feature images of leaders like many banknotes of the era.
The current Bahraini Dinar consists of coins and banknotes in the denominations of ½, 1, 5, 10 and 20 Dinar. Since it is pegged to the US Dollar at 1 Dollar to 0.376 Dinar there is not much need for larger denominations. The first series of Bahrain Dinar consisted of images of ships, fisherman, scenery of the country and they all had the coat of arms printed on the front. As time went on the design moved away from ships and started featuring broader Bahraini industry and monuments. For example, some banknotes started featuring the Manama International Airport and even a race track. Also, recently, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa started appearing on 10 and 20 Dinars. He took power in 2002. The country has developed greatly under his rule and stayed at peace with its neighbors.
