Profits warning from De la Rue

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.

USA won't see visual aids on its notes until 2020

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.

source

New additions week 40 - 2014

Last weekend the bi-annual Papermoney Fair Maastricht was held in Valkenburg a/d Geul. As always the halls were packed with dealers, collectors and of course loads of banknotes. I managed to acquire some nice new notes and also to expand the number of countries I have notes from. Unfortunately I was also witness to an arrest when I saw a guy being taken away in handcuffs for trying to steal from a dealer. I later heard from other dealers that this was not the first theft that weekend.

But back to our hobby now. I bought 7 new banknotes including 5 from new countries. The list:

• Djibouti, 1,000 francs - P37d
• Faeroe Islands, 50 krónur - P24a
• Fiji, 5 dollar - P115
• France, 100 francs - P94
• French West Africa, 10 francs - P37
• Malta, 1 Lira - P31a
• St. Helena, 1 Pound - P9a

This weekend: Papermoney Fair autumn 2014

This weekend on 27-28 September the Papermoney Fair Maastricht will be held in Valkenburg a/d Geul. Although not as big as the spring edition held in April every year, the autumn edition is growing fast. As we speak 157 dealers have already booked a table. Be sure to check it out if you've never been there: the mood is good, the local town and surroundings beautiful and more than enough banknotes are available to satisfy every collectors wishes.

More info can be found on the website.

Italy seizes massive amount of counterfeit euro notes

Reuters reports: "Italian finance police arrested a man who concealed a haul of forged 50-euro banknotes equivalent to 17 million euros ($21.8 million) in a van outside a shopping center near the southern city of Naples, a police statement said.

The massive seizure tops the number of counterfeit banknotes withdrawn from circulation by the European Central Bank during the first half of the year.

The banknotes "were a very good copy of the original and absolutely capable of deceiving most consumers because they successfully imitated the texture, the security band and the holograms," the statement said.

Police spotted the man in a corner of a shopping center parking lot, "frenetically" moving packages into his van from another vehicle. Suspicious of his movements, they searched the van and found the fake banknotes hidden underneath stationery in 15 boxes, the statement said.

The man, who is accused of counterfeiting currency with intent to distribute, had no criminal record, police said. They did not release his name. Investigators are now trying to find out where the notes were made.

The Naples area is a hotbed for counterfeiting in Italy. The top finance police counterfeiting investigator in Naples, Gerardo Marinelli, said this week half of all fake bills in the euro zone come from the Naples area, according to estimates based on previously sequestered banknotes.

The seizure of 340,000 50-euro notes is more than the 331,000 counterfeit notes of all denominations withdrawn by the ECB in the 18-country bloc during the first six months of 2014, but it is a small fraction of the 16 billion notes the central bank said were in circulation."

New 10 euro note issued

Joyous tidings fellow Europeans (and other people) for today the European Central Bank (ECB) has started issuing the new 10 euro banknote, the second note in the new Europa series.

A new design with some minor changes, updated security features which we already saw in the new 5 euro issued last year and with a new language: cyrillic. The design and theme is not spectacular different from what we already know, but I like the slightly different colour they've chosen.

Let's hope we can find the new note in our pockets a little bit faster than the new 5 euro which took quite long to find its way to the public.

>> Press kit
>> Press release

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Myanmar to issue new 5,000 kyat banknote

The Central Bank of Myanmar will issue a new 5,000 kyat banknote from 1 October 2014. The new note will have a new design and updated security features. All existing 5,000 kyat banknotes (first introduced in 2009) will remain legal tender.

There are currently no less than 11 denominations in circulation in Myanmar, which are 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 kyat.

A picture of the new note will be added once I find one.

Update 01-10-2014: the new note appears similar to the existing red–coloured white elephant note except it includes a watermark elephant, a security thread and a layer of varnish on both sides.

Update 17-10-2014: and we have pictures!

Scotland votes 'No!'

Scotland has voted to stay in the United Kingdom after voters rejected independence with a wider margin than most people expected. For our hobby this means that not much will change in regards to the Scottish banknotes. Next year we'll see the introduction of the new polymer note by the Clydesdale Bank.  

New additions week 38 - 2014

Recently I wrote about the new fantasy banknote set from the Mujand Trading Company. This fourth set is from the "Nation of Andaqesh" and features 7 banknotes. More background on this nation can be read here as well as other stories from the planet of Blissdane Naïve which can be found here. I love the whole mythology which has been created and the different banknote sets which reflect the various nations. The booklet which accompanied this particular set gave a preview of future sets so it seems we can expect more beautiful crafted sets from Mujand.

To buy this set, go to this site. If you're quick you might be able to buy one of the first seven sets and get a banknote with a #1 serial. Unfortunately the 500.000 finto note with a #1 serial number is no longer available .

Dominican Republic to issue new banknotes

The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic has issued a statement that a new set of banknotes will be issued in October. The denominations of 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 2000 dominican peso will get a new design and updated security features.

The design of the new notes will incorporate the national flower of the Dominican Republic: the Pereskia Quisqueyana (a.k.a. the Bayahibe Rose). The new notes will be issued from 1 October 2014 and will circulate alongside the current banknotes.

Update 17 September 2014: Pictures! Thanks to banknotenews.com.

De la Rue to print the UK's polymer pounds

As expected the Bank of England (BoE) has announced that banknote printer De la Rue is the "preferred bidder" for the new polymer 5 and 10 pound notes, which basically means De la Rue is going to print them. De la Rue lost out on a bid to provide the polymer sheets (which went to Innovia) but it was widely expected to retain the order to print the pounds, which it has been doing for the past decade.

The new notes will be smaller (by around 15%). The first polymer note to be printed and issued will be the £5 note with the image of Sir Winston Churchill. This note will enter circulation in 2016, shortly followed by the £10 note with the image of Jane Austen.

Update 15 October 2014: De la Rue has now been officially chosen as the printer for the next series of British pound notes. The contract is valid for the next 10 years.

Tunisia cancels old 5 and 10 dinar notes

The Central Bank of Tunisia has announced that old versions of the 5 and 10 dinar notes will be withdrawn from circulation by the end of 2014. Specifically the type 1993 and 2008 of the 5 dinar and the type 1986, 1994 and 2005 of the 10 dinar notes. The banknotes can only be exchanged for new banknotes from 1 January 2015 until 31 December 2019 at the office of the Central Bank.

The cancelled notes:

Bulgaria will replace 2 lev note with a coin in 2015

Last year I wrote about the news that the Bulgarian National Bank was planning to replace the 2-lev note with a coin. No date was known at that time but according to rumours this week, this will happen in 2015.

Paper notes will continue to be used for a certain period of time, however the damaged bills will be withdrawn from circulation.

Updated 2-11-2015: the 2-lev note will be replaced from 7 December 2015 according to this press release.

Hungary to replace banknotes, issues new 10,000 forint

The Central Bank of Hungary is about to replace all issued banknotes, starting with a new 10,000 forint note issued today. The whole operation is scheduled to be finished in 2018. The new banknotes will get an updated design, new security features and the printing process will be made more cost efficient. The new banknotes are expected to last for another 20 years.

Joh. Enschedé to print dutch 10 euro notes

Dutch banknote printer Royal Joh. Enschedé has won a tender to print the new 10 euro notes for De Nederlandsche Bank (the dutch Central Bank). It’s for the first time since 2009 that Enschedé will print the dutch euro notes.

From early September the company will print a total of 413 million banknotes. This is very good news for the dutch company which has been in business since 1703 and was saved from bankruptcy early this year. The new 10 euro note will be issued from 23 September in Europe.