According to this article the Bank of China Hong Kong will issue a commemorative note in September 2017, celebrating the opening of the first branch of the bank in Hong Kong in 1917. There were rumours about this note circulating last year but it seems they might have had the issue date wrong, since the 100th anniversary is being celebrated this year.
"Bank of China Hong Kong will offer three types of notes (single notes, three-in-one uncut notes and 30-in-one uncut notes) (...) the number of notes to be issued will be a record high – substantially more than the two million HSBC issued two years ago."
Update 28-09-2017: finally pictures!
The Centrale Bank van Suriname has announced on 21 August 2017 it will issue new banknotes of 50- and 100-dollars. The notes will get a new signature of current Bank President Glenn Gersie on them (shown on the right).
The new notes will replace the damaged old notes of the same value. Old notes which are still good and have the signatures of former bank presidents, will remain legal tender for now.
The Central Bank of Uzbekistan has announced that from 22 August 2017 a new 50,000-som note has been issued.
The watermark has the form of the National Emblem of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the number "50000".The front shows the national emblem of Uzbekistan and the top of the "Ezgulik" ark in Independence Square in Tashkent. The back of the note shows the Palace of International Forums (Anjumanlar Saroyi) in Tashkent.
The new note is 144 x 78 mm and is the highest denomination in Uzbekistan.
The Reserve Bank of India has confirmed that a new 200-rupees note will be issued from 25 August 2017. There were already rumours circulating about the new note but there wasn't any confirmation yet. The accompanying picture was thought to be a photoshopped fake and the image that is now being shown confirms that.
Below an image of the actual new 200-rupees note:
The Reserve Bank of India has announced that a new 50-rupees note is on the way. We can see the usual face of Gandhi on the front and the note is fluorescent blue. The signature on the note of Dr. Urjit R. Patel, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The new denomination has a motif of Hampi with Chariot on the reverse, depicting the country’s cultural heritage.
The note will be issued 'shortly' according to the RBI.
On 10 August 2017 the Maldives Monetary Authority has issued the new polymer 5-rufiyaa note. The new note was designed by Abdulla Nashaath who also designed the current 'Randhiha Faheh' series which has been in circulation since 2016.
The new note has the same design theme and is the same size as the other notes in the series. It has a rendering of popular Maldivian footballer Ali Ashfaq (nicknamed Dhangadey) without his face on the front of the note.
The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu (RBV) has issued its new 5,000-vatu note. This is the first of two new notes this year. At the end of this year we will also get a new 500-vatu note. These are the last two notes from the new polymer series of which the first notes were issued in 2014.
The front of the note shows the Vanuatu emblem. The back of this beautiful new note shows some children on a boat, swimming and a fish.
The Narodowi Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) has issued a press release stating that from 21 August 2017 a new commemorative note will be issued. The 20-zlotych note will celebrate the "300th Anniversary of the Coronation of the Image of Our Lady of Czestochowa".
This new note was previously announced for September 2017 but it seems we can get the note a few weeks sooner. For those who don't know the subject of this note: the icon was formally crowned in 1717 but the original icon is said to have been painted by the apostle St. Luke using a table top from the house of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. The icon is considered to be the Queen of Poland and many legends about sightings of Mary are associated with it.
Some more information on the note: It has been designed by Justyna Kopecka and its dimensions are 150 mm x 77 mm. The note are manufactured by the Polish Security Printing Works and a total of 55,000 pieces of the new note will be issued.
BTW: isn't it rather strange that they haven't included an image of the actual icon on the note?
The Central Bank of Swaziland has started with the issuing of its new 10-lilangeni note. The new note is slightly different from the old 10-lilangeni note which was blue of color. The problem was however that it got easily mixed up with the blue 100-rand note from South Africa. The new note has green as its main color and has the text VISION 2022 added on the front and the back. The rest of the design of the new note is similar to the existing note.
So now the note won't be mixed up with the 200-rand note but the 200-lilangeni note is also green. How are they going to solve that? Well, the 200-lilangeni note will also be redesigned, as will the 100-lilangeni note. Both these new notes will be issued from 1 January 2018.
Oberthur Fiduciaire has acquired from Arjowiggins Security its banknote paper production plant known as VHP, as well as all its banknote related Intellectual Property. VHP is located in The Netherlands and is equipped to manufacture paper for the Euro.
The company will be renamed VHP Security Paper. From the press release: ""VHP Security Paper has been producing and supplying state-of-the-art banknote paper throughout the world for more than 200 years. It was the right choice and the perfect match for both Oberthur and VHP. We are very excited by this new acquisition which will furthermore consolidate Oberthur Fiduciaire’s position as one of the largest and fastest growing banknote printers in the world" said Thomas Savare, CEO of Oberthur Fiduciaire."
I received a thick package from Texas last week with lots of new fantasy notes from Mujand. For those that never heard of Mujand: it's a fantasy banknote company publishing notes designed by the artist Celsus Solar. The biggest project from Mujand are the notes from Blissdane Naive but there are also smaller side projects. To explain what Blissdane Naive is, I'll just quote from the website:
"Nine planets orbit the Mujand Sun. The planet Blissdane Naive has life. It's a world where the fantastic is common and time has become yesterday, today and tomorrow... all at once. What may appear true today, changes within years, months, days, or hours. No one is sure. A time anomaly has hit Blissdane Naive and no one was aware or prepared until the past, present and future became in doubt. It's a mystery yet to be solved. Each country has its Story. These stories can be myth or history. For the people of Blissdane Naive it's getting hard to tell which is which. The Blissdane Naive time anomaly mystery is being revealed one banknote, one story at a time..." There is even a newspaper, the Mujand Investigator, to follow the stories.
All of this background makes it incredibly fun to collect these fantasy notes and read the sometimes bizarre stories. However, besides writing fun stories designer Celsus Solar is also a very skilled banknote designer who produces some of the best looking fantasy notes I ever saw. They are for sale in several eBay-stores but I would recommend visiting the shop on the Mujand site first because not all notes are for sale elsewhere.
But let's dive into it and see what the content of the surprise package from Mujand was. First of all there were three new series, the M-, N- and O-series (I call them that for the first letter of the serial numbers). The M-series, or officially called the 'Lia Antootica Pirates series', consists of 4 notes of 5-, 10-, 25- and 50-sivar. The front of the notes show the so-called Founding Pirates, while the back of the note shows murdered members of the Royal family. To understand the design choices and what the implications were of this design, I recommend you read the short history of Lia Antootica. See if you can draw some parallels with our own time and world. Security features on the notes include a transparent hologram strip and unique serial numbering.
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The second series is the N-series, or officially the Amotekunia Birds & Bees series, consists of two notes of 50- and 100-nemaz. The front of both notes show Bee-Eater birds. The back shows scientific research and the modification of bees. The security features are the same as the Pirate notes: a transparent hologram strip and unique serial numbering.
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The third new series from the Blissdane Naive world is just a single note so far: the 20-lixo note from Toroguay. The front shows scienteer / explorer Sergi Fonte. The back, which has a vertical orientation, shows a luminescent frog (they exist in our own world as well) and the daily life of the Dera people. This is the third series with the same transparent hologram strip and unique serial numbering as security features.
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One last note from Blissdane Naive and that is a new Tobacco note from the Poneet Islands. We already had one Tobacco note issued in 2016 but here is its brother. Or should I say sister? Like the first note we can also admire a naked lady on this new note who is enjoying a walk with her pig. Nothing wrong with that right? I really like the colorful design of the series. The design elements are more or less the same as the previous note in the series but it does have a different security strip. You could argue that this is a bit of a missed opportunity to keep the notes the same but I like the second strip more to be honest.
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Last but not least, the final two notes exist outside the world of Blissdane Naive but in a whole world of their own. These are the two MAGA-notes, where MAGA of course stands for 'Make America Great Again'. The 1-dollar note has the official portrait of President Donald Trump in front of the White House on it, the American eagle and the text E Pluribus Unum. The back shows a portrait of First Lady Melania Trump with the Washington Monument in the back.
The 5-dollar note has the official portrait of Vice-President Mike Pence in front of the United States Capitol building, the text Declaration of Independence and an image of the signing of this document which you can also see on the regular 2-dollar note from the United States. The back shows Second Lady Karen Pence with an aerial shot of the Lincoln Memorial.
Both notes have a transparent security strip and unique serial numbering starting with the letter T (for Trump I suppose). I'm not a huge fan of the security strip which has been used in these notes since it doesn't feel integrated into the note but more pasted on. The design of the notes is understated on the front but more lustrous on the back. The use of one or two colors with different tints and shades adds to the understated design regular American banknotes also have. This is something I always admire in Mujand banknotes: the thoughtful design and use of colors which add significantly to the overall appearance of the notes.
Well, so far I've managed to write about the MAGA-notes without making a political statement so kudos to me. I don't know if people would criticize these notes because they don't like the people depicted. If that's the case, I have to ask if they also don't like collecting banknotes from Iraq, Iran, North Korea and so on? And no, I didn't just compare Trump to Saddam Hussein.
I have understood that the usual sites which sell Mujand notes don't sell this particular series. So if you want them, you can visit the shopping section of the Mujand site.
Disclaimer: these fantasy sets were sent for review purposes. The text is entirely mine and was not paid for or asked for in any way.
No less than 11 new notes this week! In my local banknote shop I found two notes I quite liked. First a 100-shilling note from Uganda (P31c) with a design I thought was fascinating. I'm still a sucker for notes that "just look nice". In the same shop I also found an Austrian note which at first glance isn't all that special but the little 1-krone note (P73) is actually the first issue from the Austrian Government in 1922. I didn't have any note from that series yet, so here you go.
The biggest batch of new notes was in a package I got from Texas and were several new series and single notes from Mujand. The Blissdane Naive world keeps on expanding with an M-, N- and O-series. There was also a new Tobacco-note from the second F-series with a naked lady with a pig on it, how great is that?
But the biggest suprise were two MAGA-notes. MAGA? Make America Great Again, does that ring a bell? When I opened the package the face of Mike Pence on the fantasy 5-dollar note smiled at me. The 1-dollar note with Donald Trump on it? Not so many smiles...
I will post a separate review for the Mujand-notes later this weekend.
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