Free Updates
Navigation
Categories
| May, 2008 (1) |
| April, 2008 (6) |
| March, 2008 (10) |
| February, 2008 (4) |
| January, 2008 (3) |
| December, 2007 (3) |
| November, 2007 (1) |
| October, 2007 (1) |
| September, 2007 (5) |
| August, 2007 (2) |
| July, 2007 (6) |
| June, 2007 (5) |
| May, 2007 (10) |
| April, 2007 (1) |
Search
Archives
| | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
More Links
|
 Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Zimbabwe in for more of same
Posted by David
If you hadn't heard, times are tough in Zimbabwe. Inflation is wildly high, currently over 5,000%. the government ordered prices to be cut in half earlier this year. Reports state that around 5,000 people who have failed to obey the imposed price controls have been arrested. There's no real currency, the government providing instead series of bearer checks in different denominations. Circulation of the current set, which was to expire today, has been extended for a year, and a new top denomination issued, a Z$200,000 dated Aug. 1, 2007. Some online news reports have said that this new bearer check has a security strip to help combat counterfeiting, and that the Zimbabwe government has a new currency in the works. No end in sight, though, for these hard times.
7/31/2007 4:41:44 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00) 
|
|
Money maker talks
Posted by David
Ever wonder what the CEO of an international bank note production and security technology firm does to relax?
You can find out in Christine Selb's Times of London interview of Lee Quinn, group CEO of De La Rue. The article notes Quinn's desire to advance De La Rue businesses outside of bank note production, areas such as passports, identity cards and electronic identification, among others. With no plan to leave bank notes behind, though: "Sales
to emerging markets, which are likely to remain cash-based in the near
future, is expected to compensate for the West’s predilection for plastic.
Growing wealth in countries such as China means increasing demand for ATMs
and the crisp, new bills that they dispense. In Europe, two thirds of all
transactions continue to be made in cash," the article states. The article also recalls the company's quick work creating and distributing new currency for Iraq in 2004: "The company
printed a billion new Iraqi bank notes in 100 days, chartered 24 747s to
take the money to Baghdad, then worked with the country’s central bank to
retire the old currency and circulate the new one within a few months. 'That’s an unprecedented feat,' Mr Quinn says."
7/31/2007 4:09:46 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
|
|
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Was it the paper money vote?
Posted by David
Election results for the American Numismatic Association board of governors race were announced today by the ANA. Other than Barry Stuppler, president-elect, and Patricia Jagger Finner, vice president, the board will consist of new faces. You can read the news at Numismaster.com, then get some commentary from new board members at the blog Buzz with Dave Harper. From a personal perspective, it was a pleasure to see and talk with some of the new ANA board members at recent paper money shows. Chet Krause, Joe Boling and Wendell Wolka were at the Memphis paper money show a few weeks ago. Radford Stearns trekked to the Chicago Paper Money Expo last March, as did Cliff Mishler and others. I applaud them for their attentions to the paper money hobby during the lead-up to the voting. Is it fair to expect we'll see them just as often at paper money events now that the race is over? I hope so! Congratulations to all the winners.
7/25/2007 5:03:15 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
|
|
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
50-euro note most counterfeited
Posted by David
The European Central Bank's latest report on euro note counterfeiting shows that "The €50 was the most counterfeited banknote in the first half of 2007, accounting for around a half of the total counterfeits found in circulation." Total number of fake euros found in the first half of 2007 was listed as 265,000, meaning fake €50s seized numbered about 132,500 notes with a face value of €6,625,000. That's $9,138,127.50 in today's U.S. dollars. Actually, 265,000 out of about 11 billion notes in circulation isn't bad. Fakers' fondness for the €50 is not new. It has been the denomination
of choice for counterfeiters nearly continually since the euro's
introduction to circulation in January 2002. The €50 was the most
counterfeited denomination until 2006, when the €20 took the lead. Now
the €50 has reemerged on top, but notably the €100 fakes are coming on strong.
Altogether, these three denominations have typically made up 85-90 percent of all euro fakes seized. The ECB reports on this twice a year. For perspective, here are the totals from previous reports: 2002/1 - 21,965 fakes removed from circulation in this six-month period 2002/2 - 145,153 " 2003/1 - 230,534 " 2003/2 - 311,925 " 2004/1 - 307,223 " 2004/2 - 287,000 " 2005/1 - 293,000 " (the €50 made up 62% of this total) 2005/2 - 286,000 " 2006/1 - 300,000 " (the €20 took the lead this period, 44% vs. the €50's 36%) 2006/2 - 265,000 " (the €20 held its lead, at 36% vs. the €50's 31%) 2007/1 - 265,000 " (the €50 reemerges at 50% vs. the €20's 15%)
7/18/2007 2:52:55 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
|
|
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Newsweek columnist notes rise of digital dollars
Posted by David
The rise of digital currency has hit mainstream media, or at least the radar of Newsweek columnist Robert J. Samuelson: "We have crossed a cultural as well as an economic threshold when
plastic and money are synonyms and the crime of choice is identity
theft, not bank robbery," he writes. Samuelson provides a few facts and figures in his recent column entitled "The Vanishing Greenback."I'm not sure what milestone was reached to prompt his column, and that's part of his point, that in general as a whole we've not paid much attention — though I suspect those at The Liberty Dollar would argue that. I wonder if Samuelson's column will inspire a few more people to collect bank notes?
7/4/2007 5:29:15 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
|
|
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
"With secretory mucus, it's 17 days"
Posted by David
That's how long one strain of flu virus remained viable on paper money in a lab, according to Swiss researcher Yves Thomas. Presumably it was Swiss paper money, as the study was commissioned by the Swiss National Bank. Without mucus the longest-lived virus in the study lasted about three days. To its credit, the study does not pretend to address realistic conditions of regular paper money usage.
7/3/2007 4:46:18 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
|
|
|