Oman - One Rial 2015 45th National Day Commemorative Error

One Rial (Error)

Dated 2015

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Oman – This is a 1 Rial error note issued on 18.11.2015 celebrating the nation’s 45th National Day. Oman’s national’s days is celebrated on the 18th of November. Unfortunately this issue was short lived as it was withdrawn on the same day it was released to the public due to error(s) printed on the note. The most obvious error was the wrong Hijri Year date printed. The year printed on the note on the front is 1427 (١٤٢٧) but it should be 1437 (١٤٣٧ - ie Georgian year 2015). The difference is the character ٢ instead of ٣. And you think they would have done their homework to ensure simple mistake like this would not had happened. How can such a simple mistake be overlooked? This error was not spelling of names or places related, but just a simple year. Surely this note had been vetted by authority of the Central Bank, perhaps not one but few staffs and don't tell me that these people have no idea what the Hijri year should be? I doubt this error can be blamed on the printer as final design of the note has to be approved by the Bank before going into production. Even if this was the printer's faults, the authority of the Central Bank should have picked up this error before distributing them for circulations. This is a huge embarrassment to the authority in Oman. In addition to this, it was also reported that the national flag on the mast over the AL-Alam Palace was missing too. I do not believe this would matter for a recall if the Hijri Year was printed correctly. Others also claimed that the portrait of the Sultan should be positioned on the right side of the note. As for the note itself, unlike the 2010 40th National Day celebration, this was the only note issued for this special occasion. On the front of the note, it depicts the portrait of Sultan Qaboos bin Said and his facsimile signature, the National Emblem, the Arabic words of 45th National day, Al-Alam Palace. On the back, it has the 45th National Day logo, the Sultan Qaboos University, desert white butterfly (a native of Oman) and wild flower. Unlike the last issues, this is just a paper note and not a hybrid. No doubt that come 2020 year, we will see more commemorative notes celebrating the nation’s 50th National Day Jubilee celebration. The last time a one Rial note was issued was in 2005 celebrating the 35th National Day. Given that this note has now been withdrew from the public, will we be seeing a new one with the correct Hijri Year date later? It should be noted that despite this was a very short issue, there are plenty to offer in the market. I am sure many of these notes were retained by many bank employees for obviously reason. Asking price at the moment is still quite high for a nominal face value, and this is expected. As this is a low denomination, I do not expect the price to come down significantly later either as the holding cost to many is very nominal.