Just recently I wrote about the limited edition 5-zilchy note from the Mujand Trading Company honouring the works of Edgar Allen Poe. This week I received the polymer beauty and it is gorgeous. Read more about it here and you can order one for yourself here.
Exciting news from the Mujand Trading Company, the maker of one of the finest series of fantasy banknotes at this moment. A new limited edition polymer note is available and an existing series gets a makeover.
First the very first series A, featuring Early American Writers, gets a limited edition new 5-zilchy note made of polymer. The new back is very stylish and honours the works of Poe.
And second, the existing series C from the Kuninganna Territory gets a complete makeover. The old big white notes which resembeled the old British banknotes were, according to the story on the Mujand website, too big and too naked. Yeah I just love this kind of background story to a fantasy series! So now we get a whole new design which gives me an old Eastern European vibe. Looking forward to seeing the whole newly designed series!
Exciting (and historic) news today from the USA! The US Treasury Department has announced it will redesign the the $10-note as the first note of a new theme and in the process introduce a woman. Alexander Hamilton's face will still be present on the note but it hasn't been made clear how they will practically do this. The possibility of two seperate notes is also on the table (do I hear a possible commemorative issue?).
As most of you are surely aware, there has been much debate lately to place a woman on an US banknote. Most of the discussion involves which woman should get the honour. Less time had been spend on the question which banknote should have its face replaced. The $20 featuring the face of Andrew Jackson was the most likely candidate according to the action group Women on 20's.
However, the competition seems to be wide open again which woman will have her face on the new note, according to the statement on the Treasury Department's site:
The next generation of currency will revolve around the theme of democracy. The first note, the new $10, will feature a notable woman. In keeping with that theme, it’s important that you make your voice heard. Use #TheNew10 to tell us your ideas, symbols, designs or any other feedback that can inform the Secretary as he considers options for the $10 redesign.
"America’s currency is a way for our nation to make a statement about who we are and what we stand for," says Jack Lew, Treasury Secretary. "I’m proud that the new 10 will be the first bill in more than a century to feature the portrait of a woman."
The new note will be revealed in 2020 on the 100th anniversary of the US Constitution’s 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote in the USA.
The government of Zimbabwe has decided to discard its own currency, the Zimbabwian dollar (ZWD). The currency hasn't been widely used anymore after the country experienced hyperinflation, which hit 500 billion per cent in 2008. Foreign currencies like the US dollar and the South African rand were also accepted in Zimbabwe and much more popular.
From Monday, customers who held Zimbabwean dollar accounts before March 2009 can approach their banks to convert their balance into US dollars, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, John Mangudya, said in a statement. Zimbabweans have until September to turn in their old banknotes.
Bank accounts with balances of up to 175 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars will be paid $5. Those with balances above 175 quadrillion dollars will be paid at an exchange rate of $1 for 35 quadrillion Zimbabwean dollars.
The Central Bank of Myanmar has announced it will issue an improved version of its 10,000-kyat note. The new bill is the same size, design and color as the old one but has upgraded security features. It will have a new watermark image and a protective layer of varnish on both sides for prolonged circulation life and forgery prevention. The improved note will be issued from 1 July 2015.
There is quite a discussion going on right now in the USA about the design of the US dollars. In particular the lack of women on the notes. I already wrote about this issue in 2014 and the poll which was announced by the action group Women on 20's has been won by abolitionist and humanitarian Harriet Tubman (c.1822-1913).
This discussion prompted David Pearl from the Metric Pioneer to make this summary of US banknotes which already had women on it. Mostly allegorical but also some famous women like Martha Washington. The reason why I'm posting this is of course for the sheer beauty of the old US notes. Please let them do something like this again, with women or without them.
On the member forum of the IBNS website, I found a link to a great interview with Ootje Oxenaar, the designer of one of the most beautiful banknote series the Netherlands has ever seen. It provides some insight in the development of a new banknote series as well as great anecdotes on specific notes. Like the 1000-gulden note shown here in which Oxenaar hid a etching of his own fingerprint... from his middle finger 
.
You can also check this video in which he talks about designing the Dutch banknotes.
According to this article on Daily Business the Bank of Scotland will issue two new polymer notes in the near future. The next 5- and 10-pound notes will be printed on polymer by De la Rue. There will be a special occasion in November 2015 when 50 special one-off notes will be auctioned picturing children's drawings with the proceeds going to BBC Children in Need.
At the end of the year the design for the new circulating 5-pound note will be unveiled (which will be similar to the current paper note) while the issue date will be the second half of 2016. The new note will be 125 x 66 mm in size, slightly smaller than the current 135 x 70 mm 5-pound note. It won't be until 2017 when we see the new 10-pound printed on polymer.
The current paper 5- an 10-pound notes will be gradually withdrawn from circulation.
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