Tuesday 30 July 2013

Money, Money, Money .. keeps the world going round – Women, Women, Women usually do too ...


The Queen appears on all our bank coinage and notes and is there on the basis of birthright, so whatever we think of her hard work, she’s not there on the basis of her achievements.
The concept for the new Jane Austen note


The recent decision to replace Elizabeth Fry on the £5 note with Winston Churchill has caused a public furore ... demanding a rethink of the male dominated faces on bank notes ...


To soften the blow and ensure female representation the Bank of England’s new (Canadian) Governor, Mark Carney, has confirmed Jane Austen will be the face of the new £10 note in 2016/7, replacing Charles Darwin. 

The illustration by Hugh Thomson
representing Mr Collins protesting
that he never reads novels
(Pride and Prejudice - Wikipedia)

Florence Nightingale was featured twenty years ago on the £10 note ... so at least in the future... Sense and Sensibility will prevail ... with Austen becoming the new female face ...


... while Miss Bingley’s words from Pride and Prejudice ... “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” will appear on the note ... these will always ring true with us bloggers-authors.


There is a rolling programme of changing notes and I suspect in future we’ll have good representation of our deserving women ... Mary Wollstonecraft, the 18thC writer, Mary Seacole, the Jamaican-born nurse from the Crimean War, Emmeline Pankhurst, the suffragette, Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer ... and seventy plus others ...

Perhaps some of those won’t fit the four criteria, below, for selection:

  • being uncontroversial;
  • a pictorial representation must exist to base the ‘face’ on;
  • they must have made a universally recognised contribution with enduring benefits;
  • while their name must be broadly recognised.

"A" bank note!
The average bank note lasts just two years, our £5 ones even less – perhaps only nine months ... we have a predilection for destroying money (and for spending it!) ...


De La Rue, currently the printer of choice for the Bank of England is charged with ensuring that the supply of paper cash is constantly maintained and refreshed.


Paper currency was first developed in the Tang Dynasty China during the 7th century, although true paper money did not appear until the 11th century, during the Song Dynasty.


The usage of paper currency later spread through the Mongol Empire, with European explorers like Marco Polo introducing the concept to Europe during the 13th century.


25% cotton rich paper
manufacturers
Now-a-days we have state of the art security systems keeping a watchful eye on the factory floor.


The process takes at least sixteen weeks of starting on a design to the first notes being rolled off the presses, while the printing production can take three weeks to complete.


The notes are printed on cotton-rich paper that is made in De La Rue’s own mill and trucked north to the printing works.  All the raw materials are counted in and all the banknotes are counted out, some by hand, others by a machine, to ensure nothing goes missing along the way.


Art work by JuliaTrigg.co.uk
nothing to do with bank notes,
I just liked it!
The factory is climate controlled at 21 deg C, with the humidity at a constant 56%, and with more security than an airport, the factory site’s scale is almost incomprehensible.


The ink department blends 14 basic colours sourced from a Swiss supplier, plus some chemicals that help dry the gloopy ink (the black vat resembles a barrel of crude oil) to a recipe that’s suggested by the design team. 


Each batch is checked and rechecked – as the cost of the ink runs to thousands of pounds per kilogram – before it can be mixed in huge vats in 200 kg batches.


The concept for a new bank note is an ink-jet low-resolution print ... a world away from the 10,000 dots per inch (dpi) that will comprise the final product.

Some of the details in this post came from the recent Sunday Times magazine article, which is printed at a resolution of 304 dpi.

See the size of the machinery at
one of the de la Rue plants


The design of each bank note encompasses three elements – the aesthetic side, the security component features, and the durability of the bank note.


The artists are accomplished and recognised in their own right with works displayed in the National Gallery, but for the bank notes the essential element is that the eventual design is functional.


There are about 500 different security features that can be called on for use within each bank note, but a typical bank note holds about ten security features (though where a high incidence of counterfeiting occurs more security features can be built in).


Security features designed for use on banknotes are the thin type process called intaglio, hologram patch, holographic spread and hologram stripe ... while there are three levels of security on each bank note ... as examples:

  • The Queen’s head becomes visible on a UK banknote when held up to the light is classed as a level 1 public recognition feature, the kind we can spot ourselves;
  • Others are level 2 features, which may require ultraviolet light, typically used by shopkeepers to check for validity;
  • Level 3 are covert features: only that particular country’s central bankers know what they are.

Modern engraved reproduction of
Rembrandt's 1639 self-portrait
(see Wiki - engraving)
The paper runs through lithographic printing presses during which the different colours and images are applied to build up the base image seen on the banknote.


The second printing process, intaglio, where thin lines are applied with a tolerance of error of just five microns, or five-thousandths of a millimetre.  There, rollers apply 85 tons of pressure to adhere the ink to the paper, and allow it to flow through the crevices before being wiped off.  And that’s just one side of the banknote.


Artists who we would recognise and who used the intaglio process are Durer, Goya, Whistler, Picasso and Rembrandt ... after approval of the design the artists can get to work engraving the templates – the first of which will be for the Churchill £5 note.

Micro-topography on a French postage stamp
(detail) showing the thickness of ink obtained
by intaglio  (see Wiki)
I shall look at bank notes in a new light .. and as Chris Stokel-Walker in the Sunday Times article notes ... I’ll think about the whole process: the designers, printers, deal-makers; the ink blenders, plate makers, packers and shippers; the truck drivers, quantitative analysts and security men keeping it under lock and key ...


.. one of those notes with the eleven simple words “I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ...” will be exchanged for a book, some groceries ... or even some baby memorabilia, but not by me!


Here it is confirmed that money comes from a factory – it doesn’t grow on trees!


With thanks to the Sunday Times article ... and who had insight into De La Rue’s factories and offices ...  you can seethe start of the article and some of De La Rue’s images ... more available if you subscribe, I do not I just happened to buy the paper that week.


Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

58 comments:

Diana Wilder said...

Fascinating!
There is a group 'across the pond' that stamps bills with a website that is something like track-this-bill.com (sorry: I have not yet had my morning tea, so have made up the name). You go to the site, enter the serial number of the bill and your location, then go your merry way (and, it is to be hoped, send the bill on its merry way, as well).

Lynn said...

Well good for Jane - I can't think of a better representative on currency. And I love that quote - so true! Nothing better than reading a book.

Optimistic Existentialist said...

One of my goals in life is to have my face on currency someday :) kidding of course.

Bob Scotney said...

I wonder what the quotation will be when it's J K Rowling's turn?

Diane said...

Interesting post, I had not realised that there were so many female face on notes, I never really notice the notes I have to admit! Hope al is well in your world. have a good day Diane

Julie Flanders said...

I wish there were women on some of our currency here in the US. I think Susan B. Anthony is the only woman to appear on our currency and putting her on the dollar coin set her up to fail I thought.

Interesting post as always, Hilary. :)

Southpaw said...

Cool and fascinating. I love the pic with the man standing inside (or looks like) the machine. That's huge!

Bish Denham said...

Thank you for bringing up Mary Seacole. Florence Nightingale gets all the credit, but it was Mary who really pushed the limits of what women were "allowed" to do. Being mulatto as well makes her story even more amazing. I've done quite a bit of research on her and feel she's an unsung heroine. Did they ever put up the statue of her at St. Thomas' Hospital, London?

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Diana - so pleased you enjoyed the post... while your group who track their bill .. is an interesting concept ... I'd love to know what the site is called -just to see.

@ Lynn - Jane Austen certainly qualifies for being represented .. the quotes .. neither Elizabeth Fry nor Charles Darwin have quotes - but Adam Smith does: "The division of labour in pin manufacturing: and the great increase in the quantity of work that results."

I hadn't thought to note the other quotes or lack of .. I don't like £50 notes .. so can't testify to what appears there ..

@ Keith - ah wouldn't we all .. and yes I don't think we'll make it - but good for a laugh ..

@ Bob - I wonder if JK will fit the criteria?! But yes - what words would be selected ..

@ Diane - only a few over the years .. and I agree I don't look at notes .. they don't last that long in my hand (sadly!!) ...

All well here - just v busy ..

@ Julie - it would be a good teaching platform to have other peoples on the notes ..

I had to look up Susan B Anthony - I see someone very influential in the Suffragette movement. Oh dear only on the dollar .. still is it not the most used .. well perhaps not now-a-days ..

@ Holly - those machines are huge - the article described them as big as bungalows ...

@ Bish - I have to say I was ignorant about Mary Seacole, so very glad you've made me check her out.

She hasn't got a statue yet .. but Wikipedia has some interesting snippets at the end of the entry - re the statue and re teaching history in schools ...

Cheers to you all - fun having such lovely comments - thank you .. Hilary

Michelle Wallace said...

I have to be honest, when I saw your title, the first thing that popped into my mind was the song by Abba - Money Money Money.
Now it's going to ring in my head for the next few hours. Hey, maybe it will spark some story ideas - now wouldn't that be something...?
Enjoy the rest of your week Hilary.
Writer In Transit

Vallypee said...

Fascinating, Hilary. I didn't know the sensitivity (ore sense and sensibility) about who could be portrayed and what the criteria are for representation. There's such a heap of history here too. As you probably know in SA they manage to avoid the gender issue by having animals on the notes :-) A great post!

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

It even made the Atlanta newspaper the other day that Jane Austin would be featured on some of your currency. Very cool!

Oh, and we've had one other female on our money that I can remember: Sackajawea. (Not sure about that spelling, but she was the Indian guide for the Lewis & Clark expedition.)

Interesting post, Hilary. Thanks!

Rosaria Williams said...

Oh, H. you never fail to inform and enchant!

Tina said...

Fascinating, and not that different from the process for American currency. On one of our road trips to Annapolis, MD we took a day in Washington, D.C and visited the Bureau of Printing and Engraving and learned about the process. It was amazing to me all the security features built into the printing, counting, record keeping, etc. but also just the paper itself, which as yours has a high percentage of cotton content. One cool trivia point is that the presidents' faces which are on the bills are from hand carved portraits and the same artist cannot do more than one of them.
Tina @ Life is Good

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Interesting that the faces on the notes change. Yes, we have many security measures on ours as well. I would think with all of the colors yours would be more difficult to counterfeit.

Janie Junebug said...

We don't have any women on our paper money, but we also don't change the images. We've had women on some "gold" $1 coins, but those never catch one because merchants have no place to put them in their cash drawers and people complain they get confused with quarters. I love Jane Austen. Absolutely love her.

Love,
Janie

cleemckenzie said...

Ha! This was a great post. I love that Jane's going to be the face of the £10 note. She's much nicer to look at than Darwin.

I had no idea the machines to make money were that big! And I'm glad you finally cleared up the matter of where money comes from. Whew! That's been on my mind for years.

loverofwords said...

Also "Money Makes the World Go Around" from Cabaret. Another informative article, Hilary! Once, my English Setter managed to eat 2/3 of a $20 bill. I sent it to Washington and received a crisp new one back. I am nervous though, when the US keeps printing more.

Sue McPeak said...

What a great post, Hilary! Such a difference from the US money making industry...at least from the renewal standpoint. Very interesting history and thoughts on the future of women on the bills. Great Title to this post. Well done!

Sue CollectInTexasGal~Today's Post~
Tombstone Tuesday...Who Was Inez?

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Karen - I think my parents must have kept their money tree to themselves! Seems like they were right - and yes "Darn" too!

@ Michelle - I'm sorry about the tune bubbling away for a while - I do hate that too .. the songs stick in the mind don't they ...

... ooh story ideas - now that sounds good news ... I hope they come flooding across your airwaves!

@ Val - it made an interesting read for me .. and I didn't know the criterion for representation.

I remember the SA notes - love the animals from there!

@ Susan - yes I'm sure it would be syndicated across the world - especially as Mark Carney is the new Governor ...

There was a fabulous series on tv here of the travelling across the States/Canada surveying the land I think .. one day I'll find it again .. so thank you for telling me about Sacagawea .. interesting to learn about her ..

I'll have to have a proper read of the Wiki page on the Lewis and Clark Expedition .. it looks fascinating ...

@ Rosaria .. delighted you're enchanted!! Thank you ..

@ Tina - it's interesting each country's differing approach.

I'd love to have a tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving - I'm not sure they do them here ..

Very interesting about the carved portraits ... there was an article about our £20 note .. the Adam Smith portrait isn't the right one!! Funny what we find out about when we look for things!

@ Alex - they've been changing since 1978 apparently ... from Newton on the £1 note in 1978 .. and others ...

I'd have thought our notes were difficult to counterfeit - but there are plenty of £50 false notes around, which is why I refuse them.

@ Janie - paper money in the States is being phased out slowly .. but are credit cards safer ... the "gold" $1 coins ... funny isn't it what takes off and what doesn't

It's good about Austen appearing on our notes in a few years time ..

@ Lee - yes she's a pretty woman, I wonder what colours etc will be used ...

The factory is huge (ginormous!!) let alone the bungalow-sized machinery in it ...

Pity about the trees though .. I thought about the golden goose might be there too!

@ Tasha - sorry about the music links (or lack of) to the brain! Cabaret is a good one though ..

Oh I won't tell you the other things that happened to dollar bills or pound notes .. I left that bit out!! Gosh - that was lucky that you got a new one back ..

This printing of money is a worry - I just hope I can see my way through ... and more importantly probably the country's economy improve.

@ Sue - so pleased you enjoyed it - interesting that our money making industries work so differently ...

Also glad you enjoyed the post's title!! Thanks.

Cheers to you all - thanks so much for all the interesting comments .. Hilary

Luanne G. Smith said...

You are obviously a much more advanced nation if you are putting Jane Austen on your money. :D

Old Kitty said...

I can't wait to get my hands on the new ten pound note!! Hooorah for Ms Austen and all those fab people who campaigned for her!!!

As for £5 - I have a sneaky suspicion they are about to go the way of the dodo! LOL!!

16 weeks to make money!?! Amazing! take care
x

Murees Dupè said...

Once again, a fantastic post, filled with information that I did not know. I love learning something new. Now that I think about it, my country only has males on all forms of our currency, not one female in the bunch. How great is it that you will have Jane Austen on your currency? I am jealous.

TALON said...

The Queen is on all our plastic-y-used-to-be-paper money and coins here, too.

I guess if there were money trees, we'd have something else that would replace it as valuable...

Chatty Crone said...

I don't think on the bills here - we have any women! I would love to have a lot of bills - but you are right - there is no money growing on trees in my yard. Very interesting. sandie

klahanie said...

Hi Hilary,

Apologies for such a late arrival over to your site.

If my comment is more incoherent than usual, my excuse shall be its gone two in the morning.

I suppose I could coin a phrase, but I wouldn't do that. A 'banknoteworthy' posting you have published.

With this fascinating article poses a question in my head. Okay, they make the money and I reckon it should be shipped directly to me.

The Jane Austen debate raged on Radio 5 Live on Tuesday morning. It seems some folks really haven't joined the 21st Century.

The new Bank of England's Governor, may well be trying to introduce the Canadian one dollar coin aka "The Loon" or "Loony". Yes, of course I made that up.

A good Wednesday to you, Hilary.

Gary

Stephen Tremp said...

Once again Hilary, you post a unique and most interesting blog. Thank you!

On US bill we have only men figures, although we do have the Susan B. Anthony one dollar coin.

And we have the Sacagawea coin. She was the young female Indian guide to Lewis and Clark who has attained a semi-cult of personality status here in the US. But so far there are no female images on US paper bills.

Judy Croome | @judy_croome said...

A furore over nothing much - we'll only really be over the gender / race / religious issues that divide us so much when it doesn't matter whose face is on the banknotes, as long as they were people who are deserving and inspiring human beings.

Judy Croome | @judy_croome said...

PS Forgot to say I LOVE your new Blogger profile pic - the pink suits you, as does the hat, and it's a light, happy. summery photo that suits your blog! :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ LG - we seem to pictorially decorating many things .. cheques, and bank notes ..

I see in fact it looks like Shakespeare was the first 'face' of our notes in 1970.

@ Old Kitty - well it's a little wait for now, but it's good news that Austen will be featured.

And yes - £5 notes may well be worth not a lot soon! Sixteen weeks is quite a long time isn't it .. but I guess we have to add the design and approval period in .. another few months I'd have thought ..

@ Murees - it appears most currencies only feature men - oh well we're ahead in some things!

I learn too as I write these posts .. and we'd love you to visit to spend some Jane Austen!!

@ Talon - yes some countries are using plastic money .. and it's obviously being tested out ... along with various other security aspects ...

I suspect you're right .. but money trees would be lovely just now!

@ Sandie - oh so would I .. bills for Africa would suit me down to the ground right now!! Even with the little rain we've just had I don't see any new trees growing!

@ Gary - well I don't do two in the morning! I don't know how you come up with these asides ... it always amazes me - I have to get my act into gear!

Oh - but I do hope you'd let them detour to retire with some of that loot!! Would be nice if we could order it up in truckloads!

The debate and ensuing aspects are particularly uncomfortable and very unpleasant. Yes reasonableness, fairness and general common sense still isn't accepted by some people who really need to re-value their personal beliefs ...

Gosh are we going to get "the Looney" - we've enough of those without the coinage!

@ Stephen - many thanks .. yes I gather Susan B Anthony and Sacagawea both have featured - made me look them up ..

Many countries are trying to phase out paper money .. but I think it'll be around for a while ..

@ Judy - you're probably right as long as we can value each person, life would be happier ... and if we could all aspire to be deserving and inspiring ourselves - humanity would be more blessed.

Thanks re my new pic .. I've always loved pink ... appreciate your thoughts very much ...

Cheers to you all .. we had a little rain here yesterday - it was soft, but with loads of wind! Today it's meant to be wet, then warming up but already looks brighter .. Hilary

Anonymous said...

Hi Hilary, I love the final note:"Here it is confirmed that money comes from a factory – it doesn’t grow on trees!" Interesting as always. Talking of us having a predilection for destroying money; in Portugal earlier this month, I put a £10 note in my pocket as I didn't want to carry a bag in the heat, on a walk. We stopped for a cooling drink at a local bar, sitting outside in the shade. A man on a far table kept looking over at us and eventually, sauntered across and took up residence on a low wall right next to us. He didn't speak but appeared to be waiting for someone. Dave paid the bill and I gathered my hat and my sunglasses, smiled at the man and we left. As we walked up the road, the man hurried past us. It was then I realised I had dropped the ten pound note at the cafe and the man had evidently seen and lain in wait. I didn't mind too much, his need was probably greater than mine!I know I would have picked it up and handed it to the owner but perhaps he was desperate and it made his day. I hope so. Anyway, yes, a tenner comes and goes with such ease! :-)

Tara Tyler said...

fascinating! never knew what a high turnover of faces you all had! and the process has alwsys been intriguing to me.

someday the paper will all go away... can you imagine? its gradual, but inevitable!

Unknown said...

Who cares whose face is on the banknotes as long as they were good people, and the note buys goods.

~Sia McKye~ said...

No, it doesn't grow on trees, lol! I've always thought that the Brits had pretty and colorful money. Now, I know why. The US is just shades of green. :-)

Sia McKye OVER COFFEE

Deniz Bevan said...

Always enjoy your detailed posts, Hilary!
Love your photos of you in that previous post :-)
And I didn't know the royal baby had been the first person ever to have a wikipedia page before he was born - how interesting!
I like the idea of putting Jane Austen on the currency but I'm actually a bit upset that they have to take Darwin off to do so!
But of Darwin replaced Nightingale, then I suppose it's okay - wonder who they'll have 10 years from now?

Patsy said...

I didn't know about the quote that was to go on the new note. It's an excellent choice.

Our money is a work of art, isn't it? Possibly the coins even more than the notes.

A Lady's Life said...

Interesting. Our money is plastic and you can't tear it.
It is also hard to make sure you take out one bill at a time.

Julia Hones said...

Interesting post, Hilary.
A few days ago I left some money from Argentina in a pocket of my pants and it endured the washing machine without any problems. It looked clean and new. I was startled...

Inger said...

I lvoe the way you come up with things to write about that are fascinating and always so interesting. Things that no one else would even think to write about. I have been upset about all US notes being the same size. I don't see how blind people would have any idea what is what. But, shame on me, I never before questioned the fact that each and everyone has an old, white man on it. Geesh!

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Deborah - sad that money doesn't grow on trees isn't it!

I love your story about dropping your £10 note (probably Euro) .. I'm sure he was desperate for that windfall - life for many in southern Europe is exceedingly difficult. I hope he enjoyed its use ...

Yes - £10 notes do go so quickly don't they ..

@ Tara - I'm not sure what sort of marketing you'd call the 'advertising' on a country's bank notes .. but it's brought what does appear on bank notes to the fore.

Yes - it does look as though paper is going to disappear .. and I find it quite difficult to realise the inevitability of it ...

@ Damyanti - you make a good point - yet people seem to care ..

@ Sia - your pastures would be wonderful if they were full of money trees!!!

Our £5 is blue, £10 is brown, the £20 is pink, while the £50 is pink ... interesting that the $ notes are shades of green only ...

@ Deniz - thanks re my photo and the posts I put out .. I found Prince George's Wikipedia page interesting ..

Sorry about Darwin being replaced by Austen .. turnover of names! Charles Dickens was also on the £10 note ...

@ Patsy - you have so sensibly been spending too much time in your allotment! It is a good quote to accompany Austen as we exchange her for goods and services!

The coinage and notes are as you say a work of art ...

@ A Lady's Life - is your money already plastic ... and of course that would make it difficult to separate the bills/notes ...

We've been aware of creating coins for the blind or hard of sight - hence the 50p coin .. seven sided.

@ Julia - I think the notes do endure all kinds of things .. I'd hate to add other aspects!! Glad you got your freshly washed Argentinian note back ... I think I'd have been startled too ..

@ Inger - it's certainly my aim for each post or I put a different spin on them ... I'm just delighted everyone wants to read them and comment - so thank you.

Interesting about the sizing .. our notes are all different sizes and as I mentioned above the coins are differentiated .. our threepenny-bit was 12-sided - perhaps you remember those from your time here, when it was still legal tender before decimalisation?

As A Lady's Life brought up and you have too .. blind people in various countries must have terrible trouble with currency ... and we have trouble now with the Euro currency ... but that's another story.

It's interesting how and what we think about things in life isn't it .. I hadn't questioned re the faces appearing on the notes either .. or really noted we had at least a woman!

Cheers everyone - beautiful day again ... blue blue sky and there's a very bright yellow orb out there! Hilary

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Paper money doesn't last long, does it? Considering how many germs it carries, it's probably a good thing they recycle them after two years.

nutschell said...

interesting! I didn't know Florence Nightingale was featured on a pound note!
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com

Romance Reader said...

Such an interesting and fascinating post, Hilary!

Nas

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Diane - paper money doesn't last long and I agree the germs are very prevalent.

@ Nutschell - yes Florence Nightingale was featured for 20 years .. !975 - 1004 ... on a £10 note; but I don't think we look too carefully ... I know I didn't ..

@ Nas - thanks and glad you enjoyed it ..

Cheers to you all - have good weekends .. the thunder is arriving here .. Hilary

Unknown said...

So pleased Jane made it, but sad that it brought out the trolls from their lairs..

Unknown said...

I forgot! Thank you so much for joining my Cake and Custard, Hilary.

Christine Rains said...

This is so interesting. Two months ago, I visited my family in Canada, and found the paper money had been changed again. They have this new clear strip on it. It looks and feels weird, but it has all these neat features on it to keep it from being counterfeited. Thanks for sharing this with us and have a wonderful weekend. :)

Denise Covey said...

There definitely should be more women on banknotes, but oh, the history contained on paper money. I don't know why it has to be changed so often - probably because of counterfeiters.

Annalisa Crawford said...

Wow, you researched a lot about bank notes. I never realised there was so much to know!

I'm pleased Jane Austen is going to be on the notes, but I'm sorry the announcement has been so overshadowed by surrounding events.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Carole - yes the trolls have been out there haven't they .. people!

Pleasure I hope Cake and Custard does well ...

@ Christine - some else noted the Canadian money had changed and how difficult it was to use. It will be interesting to see how the anti-counterfeiting features work ...

@ Denise - we don't have many bank notes - only four - they don't change design that often .. not as frequently as some currencies ..

@ Annalisa - thankfully most of the research was done for me .. as I credited them - but I found it interesting and guessed you would too ...

Yes the furore has been unfortunate - people behave so badly ...

Cheers to you all - have good weekends .. Hilary

Gattina said...

That's very interesting but to my shame I never look at bank notes I only spend them ! lol I know it took a long time to "create" the design of the Euro as it is used in 17 countries, the banknotes have common designs on both sides and one specific architecture of the country where they were printed. We have King Albert on the coins.

Marja said...

Didn't know it takes such a long time to make them. loI I imagen someone at the money making assembly line quickly putting a bill in his pocket and distracting the man who counts them.
Money must be quite good quality as I took a note once out of my jeans which came out of the washing machine and it was still ok

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Gattina .. I'm sure we're all much the same - we just use whatever bank note we have in our wallet ...

Yes the "Euro" notes have even more challenges - I think they've had a lot of fraud/counterfeiting with them too ...

@ Marja - well they did lose a batch about 10 years ago!!! I expect their security is tighter now ...

I'm always amazed at how a washed note comes out .. I try not to put my notes through the washing machine!!

Cheers to you both .. Hilary

Jo said...

I don't know what happened to this blog and several others which have only just appeared.

As usual a very interesting blog, I love the idea of Jane Austen being featured. Don't they print bank notes for other countries as well as the UK? Our current banknotes in Canada are very unpopular, I quite like them myself.

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

It's no wonder we Canadians think of her as our Queen. We see her face everywhere, from elementary school to money to bank walls. They've brought out these terrible plastic bills now. They don't bend and look rather fake. Oh well. I like that they'll use Jane's image though. Quite fitting.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

@ Jo - funny things happen with Blogger - which of us understands!

Yes they do print for other countries but then the post would have been way too long ..

I gather the Canadian bank notes have changed recently -glad you're happy with them ..

@ Joylene - no we can't forget the Queen .. as like you her image is everywhere ...

Interesting what you say about your new currency ... I wonder what the concensus will be in a few years re your plastic bills ...

Now I shall pay attention to the new £10 note when it appears in a few years!

Cheers to you both .. Hilary

Juliet said...

I enjoyed seeing Jane Austen's face on the bank note. After all, we was very aware of the importance of a good income!
Our modern notes have plastic in them (I believe) so they no longer disintegrate when put through the washing machine by mistake.
It's amazing how much goes into a bank note! Thank you Hilary.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Juliet - they're only due out in 2016/7 .. but it will cause another stir then.

I didn't look into the new developments re bank notes - just mentally 'noted' that ours were unchanged for now - but I'm sure the powers that be must be evaluating these new approaches ..

Yes there are so many processes before we can spend said note!

Good to see you - Hilary