The 100 Ngultrum banknote issued by the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan in 2006 is a striking note that reflects Bhutan’s royal legacy and spiritual heritage. The obverse features a formal portrait of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the visionary fourth Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King), framed by intricate Bhutanese patterns and the national emblem, symbolizing the harmony of secular and spiritual governance.
The reverse depicts the Dzong at Trongsa, a magnificent fortress-monastery that holds both strategic and symbolic importance in Bhutanese history, as it was the seat of power for the Wangchuck dynasty before ascending the throne. The note is printed on high-quality paper and includes several modern security features: a solid security thread, watermark of the King’s portrait, and fine-line intaglio elements. It measures 146 x 70 mm and is primarily violet in color.
Obverse
Black and green on multicolor underprint. King Jingme Singye Wangchuk at right.
Scripts: Latin, Tibetan
Reverse
Tashichho Dzong palace
Scripts: Latin, Tibetan
Watermark
Portrait of King Jingme Singye Wangchuk
© gyoschak (CC BY-NC-SA)
Signatures
| Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu (LWN) | Chairman |  |
| Daw Tenzin (DT) | Chairman |  |
| Dasho Penjore (DP) | Chairman |  |
Comments
The note has a solid security strip windowed into six pieces on the obverse. Under backlight the whole strip can be seen and read. It has “RMA 100” repeated on it:
On the reverse there is a gold iridescent ink strip with “100” repeated on it:
UV activity on a 2006 at 365nm. Note the iridescent ink on the reverse absorbs UV:
© Brandon Bertolli
UV activity:
© gyoschak
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 | 2006-2020 |
| Value | 100 Ngultrums 100 BTN = GBP 0.86 |
| Currency | Ngultrum (1974-date) |
| Composition | Paper |
| Size | 145 × 70 mm |
| Shape | Rectangular |
