The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago is introducing a redesigned $50 note on 15 December 2014.
This is the first polymer note in Trinidad and Tobago and will be gold in colour. It will also feature national symbols, the people of the island nation and the diversity of the flora.
The National Bank of Kyrgyzstan has issued on 20 October 2014 new 100 and 200 som banknotes in commemoration of the 150th birthday of poet and singer Toktogul Satylganov (25 October 1864 - 17 February 1933) and the 100th birthday of poet Alykul Osmonov (21 March 1915 - 12 December 1950). Only 3,000 pieces of each denomination have been issued.
From the website for the 100 som note: "Golden profile of Toktogul Satylganov is depicted against white background of the watermark framed with the national ornament and bluish commemorative inscription “Toktogulga 150 zhyl” (“Toktogul is 150 years old”). Commemorative inscription, ornament and profile are made by means of offset printing. The banknote is covered with special lacquer coating Securicoat™. Latent image is made by means of rainbow-colored image Dynamic©. (...) the serial number begins with the abbreviation TC 150 (Toktogul Satylganov - 150 years) and then the serial number (0001 to 3000)."
And the 200 som banknote shows on a white field a golden quill drawing blue waves with the commemorative inscription "Alykul Osmonov is 100 years old". The commemorative inscription, patterns and profiles are all made with the intaglio printing technique. The serial number begins with the abbreviation AO (Alykul Osmonov) and subsequent serial number (0001 to 3000).
Denmark's national bank Nationalbanken has announced that it will cease the printing of banknotes and coins from 2016. From the press release:
"Although the volume of cash in circulation remains high in Denmark, demand for new banknotes and coins has been falling for some years, and Danmarks Nationalbank does not expect the trend to reverse. Underlying factors include declining use of banknotes for transactions, better recirculation of banknotes and an improved banknote quality so that banknotes have a longer life. All in all, this means that production of banknotes and coins at Danmarks Nationalbank is not economical and will not be economical in the future.
Consequently, Danmarks Nationalbank has decided to initiate a process to discontinue internal printing of banknotes and minting of coins during 2016. Like a number of other central banks, Danmarks Nationalbank will outsource these functions to external service providers. This decision is expected to yield total savings of kr. 100 million until 2020.
Danmarks Nationalbank will still be the Danish banknote and coin issuing authority and will retain its expertise within banknotes and coins. Only the actual production of banknotes and coins will be transferred from an internal department to external service providers."
Colombia is in the process of developing a new (possibly commemorative) banknote with the image of its greatest writer on it: Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The Nobel laureat who won the Nobel Price for Literature in 1982 died on 17 April 2014. Immediately a law was proposed to put his image on one of the Colombian banknotes.
Banknotenews.com reports that another step has been taken in the process to reach a decision. The final green light could be given in December of this year.
I don't know about you but my imagination is running wild on all the great themes and images they could put on a banknote commemorating such a great writer.
Update 17 December 2014: The final green light has been given: Gabriel Garcia Marquez will be put on a banknote.
Zambia has issued a new 50 kwacha commemorative banknote, commemorating 50 years of independence. The new note depicts the former presidents Kenneth Kaunda, Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa and Rupiah Banda and the incumbent preident Sata. Minister of Finance Chikwanda said the commemorative banknote bears the same features as the currently circulating 50 kwacha banknote except for the portraits of the five heads of state and the line "50th Independence Anniversary".
The commemorative note will circulate side by side with the current banknotes.
Just one new note this week: the new 10 euro finally ended up in my pocket.
New banknote from South Korea, donated by a colleague! A 1000 won note, P54a:
A fun article (Google Translate) from Die Welt about women on US banknotes. Women? Wasn't Martha Washington the only woman ever on a US banknote? Yes, but the Military Payment Certificates (MPC's) which were used by US soldiers between 1946 and 1973 did have women on them. Some even looked very familiar...
More banknote stories from Die Welt can be found here.
The Bank of Canada has announced that Canadian citizens are invited to participate in the design of future banknote series. From the website:
"The Bank of Canada today announced that it is inviting Canadians to comment on the principles that guide the design of the country’s bank notes.
The consultation, which will take place until 10 November, is a way for Canadians to contribute in an unprecedented way to the design of future bank note series. Canadians can participate in an online survey by visiting our Principles for Bank Note Design web page. The Bank will publish a summary of the comments received before the end of the year. The consultation stems from a review the Bank conducted for the process used to select, develop and design the visual content for the Polymer series of bank notes. The review concluded that Canadians should have increased participation in the design process for the next series. The Bank wants to include Canadians’ input at every stage of the design process. This consultation seeks to solidify the foundation upon which the visual content - theme, subject matter and images - will be developed in the future. The Bank will also benefit from Canadians’ ideas on how images can respect these principles. When the Bank begins work on the next series, it will again seek input from Canadians."
Norway announced on 4 December 2012 the start of the project to design new banknotes which will be their 8th series. First step was to decide on a theme for the new notes and in December 2013 they chose.... The Sea! I bet you didn't see that one coming right?
Based on that theme designers went to work. The subthemes for the different nominations were:
Is it just me or do these subthemes almost sound like a prayer if you read them together?
The designers came up with different ideas based on these subthemes and all the design can be found here. It is written in Norwegian but it is totally worth it because some of the designs are beautiful. And now from the press release:
"Eight participants were selected by a group of experts to take part in the final round of the competition. The jury has comprised five external professionals and one member from the Norges Bank. They have concluded that two proposals stand out: Ripple Effects by Enzo Finger, and Norwegian Living Space by The Metric System and Terje Tønnessen. The jury has selected Enzo Finger's proposal as the winner of the competition and is of the opinion that this proposal communicates the theme in a surprising way with considerable artistic flair.
Norges Bank has decided that a combination of two proposals submitted will go on for further work. The obverse sides of the notes will be developed on the basis of the proposal from The Metric System, Norwegian Living Space. The basis of the reverse sides will be the pixel motifs submitted by Snøhetta Design, Beauty of Boundaries."
So bad luck for Enzo Finger and his winning design but instead the Norges Bank chose two different designs as the motifs for the new series:
Hmm, well, that is kind of..... boring? If you want to see What Could Have Been, check Enzo Finger's design on page 41-45 of this PDF. In my opinion they are much nicer.
The new Norwegian banknotes will be issued in 2017.
Update 9 October 2014: the other denominations with these motifs are also available now.
Macau has authorised both the Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) and the Bank of China from 2012 to 2023 to issue special banknotes commemorating the Lunar New Year. The next year wil be the year of the goat and will start on 19 February 2015. Below are the notes both banks will issue in commemoration of the new year.
Update: The notes for the Year of the Horse (2014) were issued simultaneously to avoid speculation.
Last year Cuba announced that it would abolish its two-currency system. Since 1994 Cuba has had two currencies, one pegged to the US dollar and the other worth only a fraction of that. The more valuable convertible peso (CUC) was reserved for use in the tourism sector and foreign trade. Now its value will be gradually unified with the lower-value CUP.
New details about this plan have now been published by the Central Bank of Cuba. The convertible peso is worth about one U.S. dollar, or 24 local pesos. The highest-denomination local bill is 100 pesos. So the shift will require putting more pesos into circulation and issuing higher-denomination banknotes.
The new Swiss banknotes are not off to a good start. After previous delays the notes, which should have been issued in 2012(!), were supposed to be issued in 2015. Now it has been made clear that date won't be reached as well. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has now mentioned 2016 as the most likely issue date. Insert your own joke about Swiss clocks and their accuracy here.
The reason for the delay is (again) technical difficulties. According to one spokesperson from the SNB "the new banknotes are reaching the limits of what is physically possible with a banknote"...
Hmmm....
More info on the new banknotes can be found in this post.
An interesting article on the site of The Economist as to why De la Rue issued a profit warning when it has just been awarded the printing order for the next generation of British banknotes.
Yes I know, sorry for the lame pun in the title. The subject of this post is actually a serious one. The US Government Accountability Office released a report Friday that said the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has fallen behind in its plans to produce US paper money with raised bumps on them than visually impaired people can use to identify the notes in their wallets.
The problem with US notes is that they are all the same size and have similar designs. They can only be distinguished form each other by looking at them. Not very helpful if you're, oh I don't know... blind? In 2002 a law suit was held against the Treasury Department by the American Council of the Blind. As a result of that suit, a Washington DC court ordered the Treasury to make its currency more accessible to the blind.
In 2011, the Treasury Department approved a three-pronged plan that includes making the denominations on bills easier to read, providing small currency readers to people, and creating money with raised bumps that can be read by hand. Treasury has approved a design for the raised bumps that it hopes to test in the coming years.
Due to worries about the costs and the ability of the bumps to 'stick' to the note and not wear off in everyday use, the whole process has been delayed. The expectation now is that the new notes will be available from 2020. In the meantime the Government Accountability Office has advised the government to hand out note readers as compensation.
In the graphic below a possible placement of the raised bumps on the US notes is suggested.
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