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 Thursday, January 31, 2008
American Bank Note building brings $32 million
Posted by david
1/31/2008 3:25:13 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00) 
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Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Zimbabwe issues world's highest denomination note
Posted by David
 Say, got a spare $10,000,000 on you? That's right, $10 million. Due to an economic crisis and what reporters are now calling "superinflation," Zimbabwe recently issued a note denominated 10 million Zimbabwe dollars. Sadly, the exchange value for a Zimbabwe $10 million note is about U.S. $4 on the black market. Or, as this only slightly older story says, "A regular loaf of bread would cost US$25 (€18) at the official exchange
rate of 30,000-1 or between 40 and 15 U.S. cents at the sharply veering
unofficial rate of between 2 million-1 and 5 million-1." The cost of a hamburger, which each story attempts to use as an example, apparently varies. Maybe these reporters should switch to pizza. The previous highest denomination note, $750,000, was also a Zimbabwe issue introduced a month or so ago. An upcoming issue of Bank Note Reporter will show images of some of these notes. Added 03/17/2008: I've now posted here the images of the front and back of the new $10,000,000 note that appeared in the March issue of Bank Note Reporter. The images were provided courtesy of Frank van Tiel.
1/23/2008 3:07:53 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
'First spend' of a colorized $5 planned
Posted by david
Treasury officials and others will participate in a ceremonial "first spend" of a colorized Series 2006 $5 Federal Reserve Note on the day that the new note first enters circulation, March 13. According to information from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the spending of a new $5 will take place at President Lincoln's Cottageat the Soldier's Home in Washington, D.C. Just who will participate is not currently known, but I would expect representatives of the Federal Reserve, Treasury and Homeland Security in the form of the Secret Service. Are you looking forward to the new $5?
1/22/2008 2:10:05 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
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Monday, December 31, 2007
We can do it with stamps, why not currency?
Posted by David
While looking at Yahoo! Finance online earlier today, I spied a story from Forbes Magazine suggesting that we print our paper money at home. We can do that with stamps at sites like Stamps.com or Zazzle.com, even with our own supplied images — so why not with paper money? The article, titled "The New Green," by Yale professors Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff, suggests that the same scanners that read prices in most stores could identify our home-printed money as well. My home printer is broken so I currently do my printing at the public library — cost five cents per page for B&W, 25 cents each for color — so this plan could get expensive for me.
12/31/2007 10:38:12 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
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Thursday, December 20, 2007
Colorized 2006 $5s due out March 13, pre-colorized 2006 $5s on sale
Posted by David
The redesigned $5 Federal Reserve Note, with added purple color, new watermarks and other new and altered features will be released to circulation March 13, 2008, the Federal Reserve has announced. As I've mentioned previously, production has started at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing's Fort Worth, Texas, facility. At least, I've seen a print run of star notes on the October 2007 monthly production report, and more star notes and some regular non-stars on the November report. I'm told that about 180,000,000 colorized $5 bills (so some $900 million) are expected to be on hand at Federal Reserve banks for the initial release. The new notes will bear series date Series 2006, the BEP tells me. But, a bunch of current, non-colorized $5s produced by the BEP starting in May 2007 also bear the Series 2006 date. By my count based on the BEP monthly production reports, about 409,600,000 ($2.048 billion) pre-colorized Series 2006 $5s had been produced for circulation through the November 2007 report. Will having two very different $5 designs with the same series date cause any confusion? Will you be saving nice-looking $5s that come your way? Note also that Series 2006 (pre-colorized) $5 FRN uncut sheets went on sale today from the BEP. Click here to see the BEP's sales page for these sheets.
UPDATE: A little over an hour after I posted this, the November BEP production report became available. Just a coincidence? Hmmm ... probably! In any event, I've updated the post to reflect the current information.
12/20/2007 10:34:27 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
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Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Series 2006 $10 sheets go on sale
Posted by David
12/12/2007 11:04:57 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
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Friday, November 09, 2007
Colorized $5s rolling off presses
Posted by David
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing reported its first delivery of colorized $5 Federal Reserve Notes on its October 2007 monthly report. This is right on time for the new $5 to be displayed at the coin and currency convention in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 16-18. BEP plans to show off a 16-note sheet at its booth there. In the October report, BEP records delivery to the Federal Reserve of 3,200,000 of the redesigned $5s, all star notes, IA00000001* through IA03200000*, printed at the Fort Worth, Texas, facility. These star notes appear to be the first of the new $5. Also appearing in the report is a printing of some non-star pre-colorized $5s, which may or may not be the last printing of those. Sometimes production of the older designs keeps going for a little while as production of the new design begins. I expect it depends on demand for $5s in circulation. Based on the $5s I've been seeing in circulation, we could use a fresh supply. I anticipate seeing more of the new $5s on BEP delivery reports in coming months, as the Fed and Treasury gear up for the release of the note to circulation in 2008. Then it's all eyes on the $100. It's the last denomination scheduled for change in this cycle of redesign. Will it also be the flashiest?
11/9/2007 9:49:34 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
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Monday, October 01, 2007
Making money as easy as printing it?
Posted by David
A fellow in Canada wants to make some money. So he buys some paper mills and makes currency paper. The real stuff, not fake. And thus begins the story of an entrant to the security printing industry. OK, the story by Grant Surridge in Canada's Financial Post starts earlier than that and ends with the security printing part, where Mr. Wasilenkoff heads of group of investors that buy European plants that produce Fortress paper, and paper for some of the euro notes. Would be neat to know if Mr. Wasilenkoff is a numismatist.
10/1/2007 12:02:40 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, September 28, 2007
Opportunty knocks, doors open
Posted by David
Members of the Society of Paper Money Collectors are fortunate to have an active and forward-thinking board of governors, headed by president Benny Bolin. What would benefit SPMC going forward is similarly creative participation by members. In recent months SPMC has established several new committees, and it seeks individuals to serve on those committees. You have ideas about what should be done? You want more education, different society outreach, more chances to buy and sell, or what? Step up now. This is opportunity knocking. To volunteer, e-mail Benny Bolin, or write to him at the address printed in SPMC's Paper Money magazine. You have to be an SPMC member, but that's easily accomplished — see Web site www.spmc.org/memberinfo. Any society is measured by its members. SPMC has some of the best.
9/28/2007 11:34:50 AM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
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Monday, September 24, 2007
Regular design contest keeps ideas flowing in South Africa
Posted by David
The South African Bank Note Society, in cooperation with the South African Reserve Bank, holds an annual bank note design contest. This year the winner took home a cool 12,500 rand (nearly U.S. $1,800). While the criteria for judging are not explained, the story does note
that "the top nine finalists had the opportunity to deliver a
four-minute data video presentation to invited VIP guests including the
SARB governor (deputy), executives of the SARB, representatives of SA
Bank Note printing companies, members of the SA Bank Note Society and
design colleagues from all participating tertiary institutions."
"Tertiary institutions" means post-secondary schools, from design
schools to colleges and universities. Seven such institutions were
invited to participate in this year's contest. Designs generated through these contests may be used for reference when new bank notes are designed by the SARB, the story states. The story reads much as a press release for a school called The Open Window — and perhaps rightly so, as the top three finishers for two years running have been The Open Window students.
9/24/2007 2:37:12 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
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Friday, September 21, 2007
Philippines takes charge of spelling
Posted by David
After the name of the nation's president was misspelled on 100-piso notes that were issued to circulation a couple years ago, the central bank of the Philippines has decided to take things into its own hands. Instead of farming out its bank note production, the Philippines plans to upgrade its production capabilities and print its own notes. This according to an article on Inquirer.net, a Philippines online news source. If you're interested in coins and bank notes of the Philippines, you might enjoy this blog by a fellow called Rex whose profile says he's in Iloilo City, Philippines.
9/21/2007 2:37:50 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
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Thursday, September 20, 2007
"I'm a $5, I'm a $5"
Posted by David
"I'm a $5, I'm a $5. You need to pay attention, I'm a $5." That's what Bureau of Engraving and Printing Director Larry Felix says the newly unveiled $5 bill design screams. And he's quite right. Its new design makes it distinctively a $5 note. From the new light purple coloring to the large purple 5 on the back, the little yellow 05s on front and back and the four new watermarks of 5 numerals, this is clearly a $5 bill. You can see images at www.banknotereporter.com. The colorized $5 design debuted online at 9 a.m. Eastern today. I'm in the Central time zone, so I logged in at about 7:50 my time and went to www.moneyfactory.gov/newmoney. I was concerned about technical glitches, so I was viewing the site on two computers, one a Mac and one a PC, on separate high-speed Internet lines. On two screens I watched a clock count down to the big moment, and ... voila! Right on time, streaming video began playing. Music played, graphics moved. There were images of notes being produced. A voice-over started. Then it froze. And jumped. On both computers. Oh great. It wasn't loading fast enough for the players. My guess is that there were a lot of people trying to view it at that time. Or maybe it was my Internet speed. I wonder how it worked for others — did you view it? If so, I hope you'll post a comment about your experience. Eventually I got through all of the video, but first I wanted to break away and take part in the press Q&A that was made available at 9:30 Eastern. I had preregistered, so I figured this should work smoothly. Alas, when I tried to type my questions, nothing happened. I tried several times with no luck. I decided I'd e-mail my questions and follow up on the phone, similar to what I'd do if the unveiling event had been a live ceremony that I wasn't able to attend in person. While I let the video continue to load on one computer, I used the other to download images of the new design. I read information about the $5 online and typed up my initial report. It was posted at NumisMaster.com, www.banknotereporter.com and www.numismaticnews.net by about 10:15 a.m. Central, thanks to quick work by Dave Harper, Lisa Bellavin and Maggie Pahl. You can see images of the new note at those sites. Even though I experienced some technical glitches, I think this digital debut was a solid success. It brought everyone interested in the information directly to the source. It eliminated any chance of terrorist interference — which may sound odd to most of us but is a real consideration when staging a live event. I just hope my Internet is upgraded by the time the $100 is unveiled.
9/20/2007 11:01:51 AM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
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