The Bank of Mauritius has announced it will issue a new series of banknotes in the second half of 2017. From the press release:
The Bank of Mauritius has issued four families of banknotes since 1967. The fourth and last family of banknotes was issued as from 1 July 1999 in seven denominations – namely, Rs25, Rs50, Rs100, Rs200, Rs500, Rs1,000 (issued as from 24 August 1999) and Rs2,000. Polymer banknotes were issued in three denominations of Rs25, Rs50, and Rs500 in August 2013.
Although the Bank of Mauritius introduced new security features and improved the quality of the banknotes, the designs of banknotes have remained the same since 1999. The banknotes were designed to show on the front the portrait of a political personality and, on the back, a particular landmark or landscape.
After seventeen years, the Bank of Mauritius considers it high time for a new family of banknotes, the more so in a world where technological innovations have facilitated counterfeiting.
Following the Governor’s consultations with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, it has been decided that portraits of personalities will be replaced with illustrative elements that may include our country’s national heritage, history, culture, endemic species of the Mauritian flora and fauna, and distinctive landscapes.
Update 22-7-2016: According to this news article the new familiy of banknotes has been postponed due to heavy criticism for its high cost.
Of course I couldn't wait long to add this beauty to my collection of Thai commemorative notes. So today I received the new 70-baht from Thailand.
The Banco de la República in Colombia has announced that the new 20,000-pesos banknote will be issued from 30 June 2016. As previously announced the new note will feature former president Alfonso López Michelsen, with canales de La Mojana, and a "sombrero vueltiao" which is a traditional hat.
The next banknote in the new series will be the 50,000-pesos note which will be issued in Q3 of 2016 and will feature writer Gabriel García Márquez, with "Ciudad Perdida" on the back.
The European Central Bank has officially confirmed that a new 50-euro banknote will be issued in Q2 of 2017. The new note is the 4th new issue in the Europa series after the new 5-, 10- and 20-euro notes. The design of the new note will be unveiled on 5 July 2016.
The 50-euro banknote is the most widely used of all euro banknote denominations. More than 8 billion banknotes in circulation are 50-euro banknotes, representing about 45% of the total.
The Central Bank of Nepal (Nepal Rastra Bank, NRB) has issued a new 100-rupees note on 13 June 2016. It has a new feature, a raised black dot, with allows visually impaired people to recognize the note. Another change from the old note is that now there are two rhinos on the back instead of one: a mother and a calf. This is the first banknote bearing the signature of new NRB Governor Chiranjeevi Nepal (since 22 March 2015).
The NRB has also stated that they're planning a new 1,000-rupees note with an image of two elephants on it.
Image and information courtesy of Shankar Shrestha of www.nuphil.com
Recently I wrote a piece about several of my hobbies (in no particular order: banknotes, fountain pens and tea) and how I like it when somehow these hobbies can be combined. In that piece I showed several banknotes with tea themes on it but I also wrote about not being able to find any banknotes with fountain pens on it.
Well...
Celsus Solar of Mujand, famous for the fantasy banknote series of the imaginary planet Blissdane Naïve and the more recent series of Dutch colonies (you can read all the reviews of these different sets here), has risen to the challenge and surprised me with a great personal gift. I received a set of these fantastic notes celebrating the beauty of one of the top brands in the fountain pen world: Mont Blanc.
I love the fact that different facets of the fountain pen can be seen: the filling mechanism, the nib unit and also some beautiful exemples of calligraphy. And of course: how cool is it to own a note with your name on it? 
Just for the record: these notes aren't anywhere for sale but do they do show the craftsmanship of Celsus Solar of Mujand. His commercially available sets can be viewed here. These sets from Mujand are sold excusively by Yuri111 and fantasy_notes_and_more on eBay.
Disclaimer: these fantasy notes were provided for review purposes. The text is entirely mine and was not paid for or asked for in any way.
The Central Bank of Tanzania has issued a statement on the quality of its banknotes and coins. All in all the quality has improved a lot but the cost benefit analysis of the 500-shilling note has lead to the conclusion that the banknote will be replaced by a coin.
We've been hearing quite a lot of these types of reports lately from several countries replacing low denominations or banknotes which have become worthless due to inflation with coins.
The Bank of Egypt began on Monday printing 500 milion worth of new 1-pound banknotes to face the shortage of small change in the Egyptian market for the past few months, Albawaba Business reports. The newly printed banknotes will be signed by Governor Tarek Amer of the Bank of Egypt for the first time since he took office in November 2015.
The paper banknotes of 1-pound were replaced with a coin in 2008. The old 1-pound banknotes, which were printed earlier and signed by the former governors of the Central Bank of Egypt, have already been put back into use in the market for the last month.
The Standard reports that the Bank of China Hong Kong will celebrate it's 100th year in Hong Kong. And to commemorate this occassion the BoC will issue a special commemorative banknote. The new banknote will "feature Hong Kong elements" and will be issued in September 2016.
No word on the details of the design yet.
The Narodowi Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) has unveiled its new 500-zlotych banknote with the image of King Jan III Sobieksi (1629-1696) on it. This is the latest addition to the 'monarchs' series and is designed by Andrzej Heidrich who also designed the other denominations in this series. This banknote will be the highest denomination in Poland.
The new banknote will be issued in February 2017.
Nigeria unfortunately has a history of rebel uprisings. What's interesting is that several of these rebel groups have issued their own currency and banknotes. Between 1968 and 1970 there was the Republic of Biafra that left some banknotes to history which weren't recognized outside of Biafra but are still quite popular amongst collectors.
Now it seems we can expect two new banknotes from no less than two breakaway states. On the one hand there are the Niger Delta militants and there is also the Middle Belt. The Niger Delta militants unveiled their banknote a few days ago:
After that move the Middle Belt also presented a banknote with the head of Major Gideon Gwaza Orkar on the front. He was the man behind a violent coup against the government of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1990. The coup was crushed and the Major was executed.
Now doesn't that banknote look sort of familiar...?
According to ArabNews.com the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency has announced that the 1-riyal banknote won't be printed again and will be replaced with a 2-riyal coin.
"The report said SR1 and SR2 coins will be ideal for buying soft drinks and other small items and services, including parking meters. Additionally, the aim is to ensure 80 percent of the public use electronic means to buy goods. Currently 84 percent prefer cash."
As announced earlier the Bank of England has today revealed what the new 5-pound banknote will look like. The new note which will be issued from 13 September 2016 features Sir Winston Churchill on the back. For more information on him, please see my previous post written when his name was revealed.
The 5-pound note will be the first polymer banknote issued by the Bank of England. In 2017 it will be followed by a new 10-pound note featuring the image of writer Jane Austen. In 2020 the 20-pound note featuring J.M.W. Turner will be the third polymer banknote in England.
The new note shows the following features:
- A portrait of Winston Churchill from a photograph taken in Ottawa by Yousuf Karsh on 30 December 1941.
- A view of Westminster and the Elizabeth Tower from the South Bank looking across Westminster Bridge, acknowledging that for almost sixty years Westminster was Churchill’s life.
- The image of the Elizabeth Tower with the hands of the Great Clock at 3 o’clock – the approximate time on 13 May 1940 when Sir Winston Churchill declared in a speech to the House of Commons: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." This declaration is quoted beneath the portrait.
- A background image of the Nobel Prize medal which he was awarded in 1953 for literature, together with the wording of the prize citation. Churchill was awarded the Nobel prize for literature ‘for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values’. Although Churchill was a prolific writer, the Nobel prize acknowledged the power and effect of his inspirational oratory as much as the quality of his literary output which ranged from journalism to works of academic standing. His writings include The Second World War (1948-53) and A History of the English Speaking Peoples (1956-8).
I don't know about you but I think this new note looks very nice.
The Bank of Thailand has announced that a new commemorative note is coming our way. I love the commemorative banknotes of Thailand very much (as can be seen in my personal collection) so I'm definitely looking forward to this one!
This 70-baht banknote is in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the accession to the throne by King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 9 June 2016, which is also the issue date. It measures 89 x 162 mm and a total of 20 million banknotes will be issued.
From the press release: "The front of the banknote depicts the portrait of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej in the uniform of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the Royal House of Chakri gown with the Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri, and the Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao breast chain.
The portrait of H.M. the King in full regalia holding the Sword of Victory, standing in front of the Phuttan Kanchanasinghat Throne inside the Paisan Taksin Hall is illustrated on the reverse of the banknote."
The note will also be issued with a folder like all recent commemorative banknotes.
The Bank of Korea has announced that in commemoration of the Winter Olympics 2018 which will be held in Pyeongchang a special banknote will be issued. South Korea follows in the footsteps of China and Russia who also issued special commemorative banknotes celebrating their Olympic games of 2008 and 2014.
"The bank added it will adopt more complex anti-counterfeit measures for the banknote as it will be legal tender. The commemorative banknote will also be designed to target overseas buyers, sources added."
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