New banknotes for Zambia

As announced Zambia issued new kwacha banknotes on 1 January 2013. Basically they kicked three zeros from their previous notes. This rebasing of their currency leaves with them K100, K50, K20, K10, K5 and K2 notes and coins for K1, 50 ngwee, 10 ngwee and 5 ngwee.

From 1 July 2013, the old currency will not be accepted anymore, but it will be exchangeable for a year thereafter for the new currency at the Bank of Zambia, commercial banks and designated agents. The new currency will get the symbol K. And what do the new notes look like? Click:

The new banknotes

Update: sadly this rebasing of the kwacha has prompted some people to deceive others, particularly with the old and new K100 notes, as can be read in this article.

The old K100 banknote is a low value banknote and is now equivalent to 10 Ngwee in the redenominated banknotes while the new K100 banknote is equivalent to K100, 000 in the current family of banknotes.

Steven Woensdag 02 Januari 2013 at 08:13 am | | news | Twee reacties
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Happy New Year!

A very happy 2013 to all of you!

Steven Woensdag 02 Januari 2013 at 08:11 am | | fun | Geen reacties

New design for Tajikistan's 5 and 10 Somoni

On 25 December 2012 the National Bank of Tajikistan introduced new 5 and 10 Somoni banknotes. The design is the same as the previous versions (P15 and P16) but in the new design a Kinegram stripe has been introduced on the front. The notes of 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 Somoni already have a Kinegram stripe.

Unfortunately, the National Bank only has these two small images available but I'm looking for larger images.


You can read more about Kinegrams on this wikipedia site or in my list of security features.

Steven Donderdag 27 December 2012 at 10:15 pm | | news | Geen reacties
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New banknotes for Angola in January

According to this article Angola will issue its first two banknotes of the new series in January 2013. This will be the 5000 and 10.000 kwanza notes. Angola currently has 2,000, 1,000, 100, 50, 10, and 5 kwanza banknotes in circulation. Governor José Massano of the National Bank said that authorisation for the new banknotes had been granted in June. Massano also noted that the decision to put more banknotes into circulation was due to the governments wish to popularise the use of the kwanza, which is used alongside the US dollar for transactions in Angola.

© Banknotenews
© Banknotenews

Steven Donderdag 27 December 2012 at 09:44 am | | news | Geen reacties
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New face for Britains 10 Pound

The Bank of England has released a list of 150 names put forward by the public with famous Britons to be considered for the new 10 Pound banknote. This note currently has an image of Charles Darwin on the back.

Some of the new names include David Beckham, Mick Jagger, The Beatles, Sir Winston Churchill and William Shakespeare. The most likely new face however is Second World War Enigma codebreaker Alan Turing who died in 1954. More than 25.000 people have signed an online petition calling for recognition of his achievements. 

The complete list after the break:

Read More

Steven Maandag 24 December 2012 at 07:30 am | | news | Geen reacties
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New signature varieties for Turkey

Turkey has announced that new signature varieties will be issued on 24 December 2012. The new varieties will be for the 10, 20 and 100 Lira banknotes. The following signatures will be issued:

  • 10 Lira: deputy governor Necati Sahin
  • 20 Lira: deputy governor Murat Çetinkaya
  • 100 Lira: deputy governor Necati Sahin

The new images will be:

10 Lira - © Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
20 Lira - © Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
100 Lira - © Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey

Steven Zondag 23 December 2012 at 4:35 pm | | news | Geen reacties
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New banknotes for Transnistria

On 15 January 2013 Transnistria will issue new banknotes. The design will stay the same but the notes will have additional security features. One of these feautures will be a security thread. Also the date on the notes will be changed to 2012. More info can be found on this site (in Russian).

Steven Zondag 23 December 2012 at 4:24 pm | | news | Geen reacties
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Security features

I've compiled a list of a lot of security feautures which can be found on banknotes these days. These aren't all security features known today but as a first try, it's fairly complete. The list will be updated when possible.

You can find the list here or in the menu on the right under 'help with collecting'.

Steven Vrijdag 21 December 2012 at 09:30 am | | articles | Geen reacties
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First banknote printed on Durasafe

With the issuance of the new Moroccan 25 Dirhams scheduled for this month, Bank al Maghrib, Morocco's central bank, will become the first in the world to issue a banknote printed on Durasafe. This is a new paper-polymer-paper composite produced by Fortress Paper at the Landqart mill. 

The front of the banknote features an Intaglio vignette and a watermark of King Mohammed VI, and a magenta/green colourshift security thread developed by the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Fortress Optical Features Ltd. The thread, like the watermark, is embedded inside the banknote yet visible behind a one-sided polymer window. It also has a fully transparent polymer window embossed with the King's royal crest. The back of the note carries a print vignette commemorating 25 years of banknote printing at the Moroccan State Printing Works, Dar As Sikkah.

The windows in Durasafe are formed by die cutting each side of the three layer composite substrate separately. One sided windows (Viewsafe) give a clear view inside the substrate where the FOF thread and the watermark of King Mohammed VI are protected, but fully visible behind the polymer core. The transparent window (Thrusafe) is created by die-cutting both the outer paperlayers to reveal only the transparent polymer core.

Steven Woensdag 19 December 2012 at 11:28 am | | news | Geen reacties
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Indonesia to redenominate the rupiah in 2014

The Indonesian government has announced plans to reduce the number of zeros on the rupiah by three beginning in 2014. The redenomination will simplify payment processes in a national currency upon which many people already ignore the last three zeroes.

Source

Steven Dinsdag 18 December 2012 at 8:36 pm | | news | Geen reacties
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Jersey 100 Pound Jubilee nominated. Twice!

Jersey issued a very nice 100 Pound note in May 2012 in remembrance of the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. 

That note has now been nominated for two awards according to Businesslife.co: the International Association of Currency Affairs’ (IACA) Excellence in Currency Awards: Best New Banknote Award and the International Bank Note Society’s (IBNS) The Banknote of the Year Award.

The Excellence in Currency Awards were introduced by IACA in 2007 to promote and recognise excellence in currency issue, production, processing, management and distribution. The IBNS Banknote of the Year Award can only be entered if an IBNS member nominates a note and it is judged on artistic merit, imaginative designs, use of colour and modern security features. The winner will be featured on the IBNS website and the IBNS Journal which have a large international following. 

Jersey 100 Pond Diamond Jubilee

Steven Dinsdag 18 December 2012 at 8:09 pm | | news | Geen reacties
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No more monetary union Curacao and St. Maarten?

MRI reports the following: "According to local reports the governments of Curacao and Sint Maarten will decide next week whether to continue their monetary union. If they do decide to split, probably Sint Maarten will adopt the United States dollar.

This discussion has been going back and forth the last few months. Have they finally made a decision? 

Steven Dinsdag 18 December 2012 at 12:00 pm | | news | Geen reacties
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Interview with the CEO of De la Rue

An interesting interview with the CEO of banknote printer De la Rue Tim Cobbold.

Steven Maandag 17 December 2012 at 2:53 pm | | links | Geen reacties
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Polymer pounds?

I already wrote about the tender which the Bank of England issued for the printing of the British banknotes from 2015 to 2029. Part of the new tender is a demand that the new printer is able to cope with changes from paper to polymer banknotes.

Does this mean that in the future the British pounds will be a polymer note? That will probably be the case for the lower denominations. Their lifespan is very short as a paper banknote. A polymer pound would last a lot longer.

Will the Bank switch completely to polymer? Only time will tell. 

Steven Maandag 17 December 2012 at 2:43 pm | | news | Geen reacties
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Creede banknote sold

Remember the Creede banknote I wrote about recently? It sold for a whopping $102.000!! 

I think that calls for a well deserved… KA-CHING!!

© Bonhams

Steven Maandag 17 December 2012 at 2:29 pm | | links | Geen reacties
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