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Process
Since
we started the project, many things have been done while some
have yet to be completed.
Our objective is simple, that is to help others
understand Singapore’s history through a different medium
– the currency.
We have visited the Asian
Money Fair 2002 held at Suntec City on the 17th
March 2002 as a start to the project to understand more and
become interested in Singapore’s currency.
We set out to achieve a few short-term goals.
First, we tried to obtain permission for pictures of
coins and notes so that we can put them on the final product
of our project, the website.
This part is quite easily accomplished, as the Board of
Currency of Singapore told us that it is perfectly all right
to put pictures of notes on the website as long as it has the
word “SPECIMEN” printed across it.
Coins would not matter, as it is impossible to produce
counterfeit coins by printing them.
We had wanted to call up on some collectors of
Singapore currency so as to interview them for additional
information. However,
realising that it would be a personal opinion, we decided to
try our analytical skills by interpreting the pictures on the
notes ourselves. This we did to great effect, as we consulted the version done
by www.singaporecurrency.gov.sg
on the Portrait series (they did not have any write-up on the
other note or coin series).
In our interpretation, we tried our best to relate it
to the history of Singapore, the events that happened when the
notes were first issued.
As for the Straits Settlement and Japanese Occupation
notes, we went to the National Library to consult a few books
devoted to the topic. We
realised when we got there that all the books that we were
searching for were reference books, meaning they cannot be
borrowed out of the library.
This made work complicated for us, and we had to resort
to photocopying of relevant pages to refer to.
However, we did not spend too much time on these two
periods of Singapore currency, as we were more devoted to
writing our own interpretation for the four series since
Singapore independence, namely, the Orchid, Bird, Ship and
Portrait series.
We realised that we had to inform the websites we are
using their pictures and information.
This is a difficult task, as we are still unable to
contact the relevant authorities.
Even with websites such as www.singaporecurrency.gov.sg,
where there is a form to contact the Webmaster, the link was
down when we tried to contact and thus we did not complete
this aspect of the project.
Therefore, we had no choice but to only list the
website on our own and thank them.
We wanted to give more information on money in a
technical aspect as well.
Therefore, we provided information such as the spotting
of a counterfeit. The
information on this issue, however, would not have been
possible without www.singaporecurrency.gov.sg.
The metal composition of coins is another part of the
technical aspect; we will try our best to complete it to
improve our project. |
