The 1 Ngultrum banknote issued by the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan in 2006 reflects the country’s deep-rooted Buddhist heritage and unique cultural identity. The obverse features a portrait of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the revered fourth Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) of Bhutan, known for introducing the concept of Gross National Happiness. The reverse showcases the Simtokha Dzong, one of the oldest dzongs (fortresses) in Bhutan, serving both religious and administrative purposes.
Printed on high-quality paper, the note includes traditional Bhutanese motifs, a solid security thread, and a watermark of the King’s portrait. It measures 120 x 60 mm and is predominantly blue in color. This denomination is primarily used for small transactions and holds cultural value among collectors due to its design and symbolism.
Obverse
Blue on multicolor underprint. Dharmachakra between two dragons (Druk) at centre.
Scripts: Latin, Tibetan
Lettering:
༡ འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་གཞུང་དངུལ་ལས་དབང་འཛིན་
དངུལ་ཀྲམ་གཅིག། 1
Translation: Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan, One Ngultrum
Reverse
Simtokha Dzong Palace at centre.
Script: Tibetan
Lettering:
༡ ROYAL MONETARY AUTHORITY BHUTAN ༡
1 ONE NGULTRUM དངུལ་ཀྲམ་གཅིག། 1
Translation: One Ngultrum
Signatures
| Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu (LWN) | Chairman |  |
| Daw Tenzin (DT) | Chairman |  |
| Dasho Penjore (DP) | Chairman |  |
Printer
August Osterrieth, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Comments
The Dharmachakra or wheel of dharma is a symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism. The word Dharma means “what is established or firm”, for this reason the wheel is also called “wheel of the law”.
The Druk is considered the “Thunder Dragon” of Bhutanese mythology. It’s a Bhutanese national symbol and appears on the national flag.
Simtokha Dzong Palace is a small dzong (fortress) . It was built in 1629 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who unified Bhutan.
A 2013 note was backlight scanned, no watermark or security thread was seen:
UV activity on a 2013 note at 365nm:
© Brandon Bertolli
Features
| Issuer | Bhutan |
|---|---|
| Issuing bank | Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan (བྲུག་རྒྱལ་གཞུང་དངུལ་ལས་དབང་འཛིན་) |
| King | Jigme Khesar Namgyel (འཇིགས་མེད་གེ་སར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་དབང་ཕྱུག་) (2006-date) |
| Type | Standard circulation banknotes |
| Years | 2006-2019 |
| Value | 1 Ngultrum 1 BTN = GBP 0.0086 |
| Currency | Ngultrum (1974-date) |
| Composition | Paper |
| Size | 120 × 60 mm |
| Shape | Rectangular |
