Armenia new 500-dram Noah’s Ark commemorative note (BNP301a) confirmed

According to a press release dated 22 November 2017, Armenia introduced a new 500-dram note commemorating Noah’s Ark, the vessel that supposedly saved Noah’s family and the all the world’s animals from a biblical flood before coming to rest atop Mount Ararat in modern day Armenia. 300,000 notes were packaged in brochures and sold for 1,700 dram each.

BNP301 (P60): 500 ԴՐԱՄ (dram) (US$1.05)
Yellow, gray, brown, and blue. Front: Armenian text; green-to-gold RollingStar LEAD reliquary with Noah’s Ark fragment; Friedrich Parrot’s woodcut of Etchmiadzin Cathedral building; Noah’s Ark as registration device; back side of Mount Ararat; gold-to-green SPARK Live flying dove with olive branch in beak. Back: Armenian text; Mount Ararat as seen from Chor Virap Monastery; animals and birds flanking Noah’s family, from Jacob Carolsfeld’s woodcut, “Noah Leaving the Ark;” flying eagle. Gold-to-green Galaxy windowed security thread with demetalized AMD / 500. Watermark: Noah’s Ark and electrotype 500. Printer: (Giesecke & Devrient). 140 x 76 mm. Composite (Hybrid). a. 2017. Sig. 8: Javadyan/Aramyan. Prefix ՆՏ. Intro: 22.11.2017.

Courtesy of Cleo Phas and Mikhail Plakhov.