The Central Bank of Uruguay has issued a new design of their 2,000-pesos note. The redesigned banknote has several new security features. This Series B-note has a registration device, a holographic windowed security thread, translucent features, a map of Uruguay in OVI, iridescent stripes and intaglio marks for the sight impaired.
The banknotes which still have the old design from series A will continue to circulate side-by-side with the new note.
One more older news item that was buried in my vacation folder but was mentioned by reader Jorge to me. The National Bank of Argentina has issued a redesigned 10-pesos note on 4 April 2016 with new security features. The front of the note shows a sunburst as registration device, leaves on branches, an OVI patch of Pedrito Ríos, drummer boy of Tacuarí and the image of Manuel Belgrano in military uniform. On the back we see Juana Azurduy de Padilla and Manuel Belgrano on horseback on 27 February 1812 along the Paraná River.
Thanks to Jorge Aloy for mentioning the news to me!
The Bank of England has announced an update to its 20-pound banknote with an image of painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851). The Turner note will be printed on polymer and will be issued by 2020. The reverse of the note will include:
Below the concept image for the portrait of Turner which will be used on the note. Below that the painting The Fighting Temeraire.
From the IBNS website: The International Bank Note Society (IBNS) announces that its voting membership has selected the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to receive its prestigious "Bank Note of the Year Award" for 2015. With almost 150 new banknotes released worldwide during 2015, over 3 dozen were of sufficiently new design to be eligible for nomination. Whilst New Zealand's $5 polymer note was a clear winner, runners-up in very tight voting were Sweden’s 20 Kronor note depicting children's author Astrid Lindgren, Russia’s 100 Ruble note illustrating Crimean landmarks, Kazakhstan’s 20,000 Tenge note and Scotland’s (Clydesdale Bank) 5 Pound polymer note.
From all significantly new designed and widely circulated banknotes released in 2015, the IBNS membership nominated notes from a record 20 countries to place on the ballot. Nominees represented four continents (Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa), 4 Middle East countries, and 4 island nations. Past "Bank Note of the Year" winners include Trinidad & Tobago (2014), Kazakhstan (2013, 2012, 2011), Uganda (2010), Bermuda (2009), Samoa (2008), Scotland (2007), Comoros (2006), Faeroe Islands (2005) and Canada (2004).
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand began releasing a new family of "Brighter Money" banknotes in 2015, beginning with the $5 and $10 denominations. Printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company in Ottawa, each stunning orange and brown $5 note displays a map of New Zealand in a gorgeous polymer window as well as numerous upgraded security features.
The Reserve Bank of Australia has issued a press release with the design for the first new banknote of the new generation, the 5-dollar note. The new note will be issued into circulation from 1 September 2016. The images show the basic design artwork of each side of the banknote. As previously announced, key aspects of the existing design – colour, size and people portrayed – are retained for ease of recognition and to minimise the disruption to businesses. There is a new 'tactile' feature to help the vision-impaired community distinguish between different denominations of banknotes.
The Governor, Glenn Stevens, said: "Innovative new security features have been incorporated to help keep Australia’s banknotes secure from counterfeiting into the future. As can be seen in the images, these include a distinctive top-to-bottom window. Each banknote in the new series will depict a different species of Australian wattle and a native bird within a number of the elements. On the $5 banknote, these are the Prickly Moses wattle and the Eastern Spinebill."
The first reactions on social media are not really positive. One comment stated the note looks like "clown puke". Mmm... I can see what they mean to be honest... Judge for yourself with the images below. The white areas are actually transparent.
From The Guardian: "The Scottish author Nan Shepherd, who explored the Cairngorms in her classic text The Living Mountain, is to feature on a new Scottish £5 note.
Shepherd was chosen by the Royal Bank of Scotland board after the scientist Mary Somerville was selected as the image for the Scottish £10 note by public vote. The new £5 note will enter circulation later this year, with the £10 to follow in 2017. RBS board chair Malcolm Buchanan said the bank had "never before featured a woman on its main issue bank notes" and that the new issues celebrated "the fantastic, and often overlooked, achievements of two great Scottish women".
As well as an image of Shepherd, the RBS £5 note features a quote from the author’s first novel, The Quarry Wood – "It’s a grand thing to get leave to live" – and one from her meditation on the Scottish landscape, The Living Mountain: "But the struggle between frost and the force in running water is not quickly over. The battle fluctuates, and at the point of fluctuation between the motion in water and the immobility of frost, strange and beautiful forms are evolved."
Born in 1893, Shepherd spent all her life in Aberdeen. She wrote her 80-page meditation on the Cairngorm mountains during the second world war but only published it in 1977, four years before her death. By the beginning of the 21st century, it was almost forgotten, but a resurgence of interest in nature writing has seen Shepherd’s books enjoying a new lease of life.
The reverse of the £5 note features an excerpt from Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean’s poem The Choice, which translates into English as "I walked with my reason, out beside the sea". The £10 note shows an excerpt from Norman MacCraig’s poem Moorings: "The cork that can’t be travels / Nose of a dog otter / It’s piped at, screamed at, sworn at / By an elegant oystercatcher."
Each note also features a midge, to "represent the reality of everyday living in the Scottish countryside", according to RBS. "It’s a reminder that Scottish nature nips us as well as thrills us," said Macfarlane." Source.
Update 28-4-2016: Together with this news the final designs for both the new 5-pound note and the 10-pound note have been shown to the world. Below the notes in their full glory.
Update 13-09-2016: In this article on the BBC website the date of 27 October 2016 is mentioned for the introduction of the 5-pound note with Nan Shepherd.
A bid to change the law so that Welsh banknotes could once again be issued has been blocked by the UK Government. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own banknotes and Labour and Plaid Cymru supported a measure would have opened the door to Welsh notes. The Consevatives however voted the proposal down.
In a comment by the UK Treasury Minister she mentioned some of the design elements of the new UK 5-pound note.
From WalesOnline: Shadow Welsh Secretary Nia Griffith said: "I'm deeply disappointed that the Conservatives voted against introducing Welsh banknotes. This proposal had widespread support amongst Welsh Labour MPs and the full support of Labour’s Treasury team.
"Welsh banknotes would be an important way of recognising the people who have shaped Wales as we know it today, and it is only fair when Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own banknotes.
"During today’s debate many of my colleagues made their own suggestions as to who could feature on Welsh banknotes - figures such as Aneurin Bevan and Dame Shirley Bassey - but ultimately this would be a decision for the people of Wales. Labour will continue pressing the Conservatives to reconsider their opposition to these proposals."
The amendment to the Bank of England and Financial Services Bill – to "enable Lloyds Banking Group, the holder of the Bank of Wales trademark, to issue banknotes in Wales" was defeated by 301 to 239.
UK Treasury Minister Harriett Baldwin said that although she sympathised with the desire for Welsh banknotes the Government would not support the amendment.
She said: "The last private note issuer in Wales was the North and South Wales Bank which lost its note-issuing rights in 1908 when it was taken over by the Midland Bank which now has been rebranded as HSBC."
Ms Baldwin said the proposals would give a "clear commercial advantage in the country of Wales to just one bank, the Lloyds Banking Group."
She added: "I can confirm that the Bank of England has already announced that future banknotes, starting with the polymer £5 note which will be issued from September 2016 will include symbols which represent all four home nations. For Wales, the imagery will be taken from the Royal Coat of Arms and the Royal Badge of Wales."
The Central Bank of Russia has announced that new banknotes of 200- and 2,000-rubles will be issued. The new notes are expected to be issued at the end of 2017.
No news yet on the theme or design of the new banknotes but for the first time Russian citizens will have a say in what city or region will be represented on the banknotes. The final decison will be made in the summer of 2016.
Update 8 July 2016: You can follow the voting on the official site for the new banknotes. On 7 October 2016 the winner will be announced.
Just coming back from a vacation in the USA I was once again confronted with perhaps the most well known banknotes in the world but also some of the most boring in terms of design in my opinion. But it seems that is about to change in a big way!
The US Department of the Treasury has announced its plans for one of the biggest design changes to the US banknotes in decades. The 5-, 10- and 20-dollar notes will get new faces on them, with 8 of them being women. The theme for the new generation of banknotes will be Democracy.
"The new $5 will honor historic events that occurred at the Lincoln Memorial in service of our democracy, and will feature Martin Luther King, Jr., Marian Anderson, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The front of the new $5 will retain the portrait of President Lincoln.
The new $10 will celebrate the history of the women’s suffrage movement, and feature images of Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul, alongside the Treasury building. The front of the new $10 will retain the portrait of Alexander Hamilton.
The front of the new $20 will feature the portrait of Harriet Tubman, whose life was dedicated to fighting for liberty. The reverse of the new $20 will depict the White House and an image of President Andrew Jackson."
It seems that the Treasury tries to make up for decades of white male domination on their banknotes in one move. It will be interesting to see how the new banknotes will cope with so many faces on some of them but it sure sounds promising! In this letter Secretary Lew explains the choices for the new faces.
The new banknotes are expected for 2020, the centennial of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote.
After the spectacular fantasy Dutch-Mauritius set from Mujand designed by Celsus Solar, there is now a new former Dutch colony available in a perhaps even better looking set.
The Dutch Gold Coast, or Dutch-Guinea, was a colony in Africa so don't confuse it with Dutch-Guiana in South America or with Dutch New Guinea (currently known as Papua New Guinea) in Asia. Yeah, Dutch history lessons were always fun with all these confusing similar names.
But back to the Dutch Gold Coast which is the subject of this particular fantasy set. This small colony in present-day Ghana was the most important Dutch colony in West Africa. However, for some reason it is not as well known in The Netherlands as other former Dutch colonies like Indonesia or Suriname. This is not only due to the fact that those colonies were decolonized in the 20th century and and the Dutch Gold Coast was already abandoned in the 19th century. It also has something to do with the reason it was called the Gold Coast. You see, our ancestors made a lot of money on the Gold Coast, not only with shipping gold but also with shipping slaves. When the slave trade was abandoned in the 19th century the colony was more are less finished as well.
The Dutch shipped a lot of slaves in those days and consequently became very rich. These days however it is regarded as one of the darkest pages in Dutch history. And rightly so I might add. The colony was governed by the infamous Dutch West India Company which needed the slaves for the other Dutch colony in present-day Brazil and later for other colonies, either Dutch or from other countries.
Even though this history is dark, this set of fantasy notes is pretty much the exact opposite. Colorful on both sides and packed with images associated with the real country, like animals, masks and colorful dresses worn by (beautiful) women. This set has something for every thematic collector it seems. The colors of the notes are vibrant and really stand out when you have them in your hands. When I received the notes I found myself constantly looking at them with all the hidden details in both the design and the themes. Mujand has raised the bar again with a brilliant new set.
The notes are made of polymer and are 3.25" x 6.50" (82.55 x 165.1 mm) in size which makes them slightly larger than the Dutch-Mauritius set. The sets from Mujand are sold excusively by Yuri111 and fantasy_notes_and_more on eBay.
Disclaimer: these fantasy banknotes were provided for review purposes. The text is entirely mine and was not paid for or asked for in any way.
A reader of my website send me a pic of this note asking me if I knew what it was. My idea was that it's so called Hell Money, or 'banknotes' which are burned for the afterlife. From the Wikipedia article on the subject: "A story says that the word hell was introduced to China by Christian missionaries, who preached that all non-Christian Chinese people would "go to hell" after death. The word "Hell" was thus misinterpreted to be the proper English term for the afterlife and hence adopted as such. Some printed notes attempt to correct this by omitting the word "hell" and sometimes replacing it with "heaven" or "paradise"."
I have tried to find some more information on this particular note (its age for instance) but I haven't been able to find good online resources for these questions. Nor do I know if people collect these kind of notes and which varieties are available. So if you might have more information please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks to Hugo for providing me with this interesting note!
I visited Walt Disney World with my family the past three weeks. That was a lot of fun by itself but for a collector of banknotes also a good opportunity to get some Disney Dollars which can be bought in Disney World and at the resorts and can be used in the parks as 'real money'. For more information be sure to check out DisneyDollars.net.
I got three new notes from the Guest Relations office at Disney's Epcot. When I asked for some mint unfolded notes I immediately got the question "mmm... are you a collector by any chance?". Our reputations procede us it seems.
The notes they were able to provide were the 1 dollar from the 2000-series, the 10 dollar from the 2008-series and the 5 dollar from the 2009-series all of which I didn't have yet. I especially like the 1 dollar since it has an image of Epcot on the back. All images below are from DisneyDollars.net.
After three weeks in the sun in Florida I'm back home where it's 20 degrees colder but at least I can update my site again right? Three weeks Disney World and the surrounding area has left me not only with a nice tan but also with some new banknotes. So please excuse the lack in updates (I don't really like broadcasting on the internet that my home is uninhabited) but lets continue where we left off!
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has finally, FINALLY, revealed the final design of the first banknote of the new series! But to be honest: it was well worth the wait.
"In the ninth banknote series the Swiss National Bank is breaking new ground on the design front – it is moving away from the depiction of well-known personalities altogether. Each note in the new series depicts a typically Swiss characteristic, which is then illustrated graphically using a key motif. Each characteristic is communicated via an action, a Swiss location and various graphic elements. The inspiration behind the new banknote series is 'The many facets of Switzerland'."
The first new note of the series has wind as its main theme. This theme is reflected in several design elements, like the dandelion on the front where the wind carries the seeds from it, the wind arrows and the wind currents blowing across the globe. The globe represents the connection of Switzerland with the rest of the world and will be present on all notes in the series. The back of the note shows a paraglider flying on the wind across the Swiss Alps. The mountain peaks and contour lines also represent the Swiss Alps.
The Swiss banknotes have always been one of the most secure note and this new series is no exception. There are numerous security features used in this new note which are a bit too many to list here but be sure to check out the video below where a lot of them are presented. I really like how they made the security features an integral element of the design of the whole note.
The themes and main colors of the banknotes in the new series are:
The new 50-francs note will be officially issued to the public from 12 April 2016. Below two images taken from the information brochure on the website of the SNB. More interesting downloads can be found here.
The State Bank of Vietnam has issued a commemorative note of 100-dong commemoratong the 65th anniversary of the the banking sector in Vietnam (6 May 1951- 6 May 2016).
The note is 83 by 163 mm and printed on cotton paper. The primary color of the note is red. The front of the note has the line "The State Bank of Vietnam", "the 65th Anniversary of Banking Sector” with the years 1951- 2016, the denomination of 100 VND in words and in numbers, a portrait of former president Ho Chi Minh and the signature of SBV Governor Nguyen Van Binh.
The back of the note shows the line "The State Bank of Vietnam", the denomination of 100 VND in words and in numbers, an image of the State Bank of Vietnam building, Thanh Giong (a mythical folk hero), a stylized depiction of the currency used in ancient Vietnam representing the nation’s monetary sovereignty and the patterns found on Ngoc Lu Bronze Drum. The sky and dragon are painted as decoration features on both the front and back.
On the occasion of 65th anniversary of the banking sector, the SBV has issued the note as a souvenir to promote iconic features of Vietnam and its history. The souvenir banknotes were manufactured by the National Banknote Printing Plant under the sponsorship of international partners from France, Switzeland, Sweden, and Germany for paper, ink and security equipments.
The banknotes will be sold for VND 20,000 per single note, and VND 25,000 per note wrapped in a folder with a bilingual caption.
As previously announced the Banco de la República in Colombia has issued the first new note of the new family of banknotes: the 100,000-peso featuring the image of former president Carlos Lleras Restrepo.
The front of the note depicts the denomination in dark green OVI, a sietecueros blossom green-to-blue SPARK Orbit patch and the image of Carlos Lleras Restrepo. The back shows wax palms (the national tree), a barranquero bird, a poem about the wax palm by Luis Vidales and the liberty head bank seal.
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