Pieces Issued
• Not printed on notes
The number of pieces of notes issued is of interest to collectors because it is a key determinant in the value of the note. Fewer pieces of an issued note translate to greater rarity, and higher value. For the Orchid and Bird series, the government disclosed the total number of pieces released. However, midway through the Ship series, the numbers were no longer disclosed. Instead, the government only provides the total value of notes and coins in circulation, without specifying the numbers for specific denominations. This is for financial security. If people know exactly how many pieces were printed—for example, how many $1000 notes were issued in a certain year—it may help criminals track how much cash is in circulation or spot which notes are harder to trace. This could make it easier to plan illegal activity, such as money laundering or large cash movements, while avoiding detection. By keeping this information confidential, it becomes harder for anyone to exploit the system for unlawful gain.
The lists below shows how many pieces of each denomination of Singapore banknotes were issued. For the Orchid and Bird series, the figures are based on official government publications. For the Ship series, since BCCS did not publish the final numbers, the figures are estimated using the number of prefixes issued. For the Portrait series, the total number of notes issued is unknown. Only the quantities of the Portrait $1000 and $10000 notes can be roughly estimated from the prefixes already issued. For commemorative notes, the figures come from official government announcements.
Orchid series
- $1: 420 million
- $5: 45 million
- $10: 195 million
- $25: 50 million
- $50: 62 million
- $100: 5.6 million
- $500: 1 million
- $1000: 0.6 million
- $10000: 0.2 million
Bird series
- $1: 698.7 million
- $5: 84.4 million
- $10: 270 million
- $20: 80 million
- $50: 148 million
- $100: 22.7 million
- $500: 7.1 million
- $1000: 1.5 million
- $10000: 0.2 million
Ship series
- $1: 315 million
- $2 (orange): 120 million
- $2 (purple): 695 million
- $5: 132 million
- $10: 670 million
- $50: 850 million
- $100: 37 million
- $500: 3 million
- $1000: 11 million
- $10000: 1.3 million
Portrait series
- $1 to $100: Unknown
- $1000: 47 million
- $10000: 0.5 million
Commemorative series
- SG25 $50 (1990): 4.8 million
- MAS25 $25 (1996): 0.3 million
- M2 $2 (1999): 4.9 million
- CIA40 $20 (2007): 3 million
- SG50 $50 (2015): 20 million
- SG50 $10 (2015): 15 million of each of the 5 variants
- CIA50 $50 (2017): 2 million
- B200 $20 (2019): 4 million
