VENEZUELAN HERO FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA

Now I like this note, not simply because its from Venezuela - I  was a huge fan of Hugo Chavez - but because they have designed one side in portrait and the reverse in landscape which adds a little bit of  "something extra" to it. the front has a serious looking Francisco de Miranda, a forerunner of Simon Bolivar. Francisco has a connection to Britain too. his house in London has a blue plaque commemorating him. Unusual as Britain is not known for celebrating revolutionaries, South American or otherwise !! The reverse has Orinoco river dolphins and the Medanos de Coro National Park in the background. The note is a 2 Bolivares note, Bolivares are name after Simon Bolivar Above.

Find more venezuelan notes HERE

A HONG KONG MODERNIST DESIGN

This polymer note from Hong Kong is the 2007 10 dollar note. its design is a very "modernist" design with lots of swirling ribbons and the reverse has a geometric design that is reminiscent of a celtic knot. I'm not a big fan of "modern art"   and although I like the colours there are too many things going on to like this note!!

SOUTH KOREA'S 1000 WON NOTE

This note is a 1000 won note from 2007 and issue by the Bank of Korea to the south Korean economy. The front has the Korean Confucius scholar Yi Hwang and the reverse has a painting by the korean painter Jeong Seon, of Dosan Seowon.

North and south Korea divided in 1948 at the start of the cold war and have been on bad terms ever since

more notes HERE

LONG GOD YUMI STANUP ---- VANUATU

Vanuatu, worth knowing about if you do pub quizzes, is a Melanesian Island state. The note above is the 200 Vatu, sometimes locally, called the 2 dollar (ie 100 vatu = 1 dollar) although it is not linked to either the US dollar nor the Australian dollar. It seems to be a way of desmcribing bigger denominations in an easier way. The note has the Vanuatu motto " long god yumi stanup" ( in god we stand) and a warrior standing with a spear on the front and a family sitting outside a house on the reverse.

you can find more Vanuatu notes HERE

THE BLUE OF BARBADOS

This extremely Blue note is the 2 Dollar note from Barbados and was issued in 2013. It has John Redman Bovell  on the front and on the reverse is the Morgan Lewis Windmill , the last sugar mill to operate in  Barbados.

you can see some of the security and design  features here

there are more barbados notes  HERE including an older issue of the $2

CHILEAN BANKNOTE

This is the 1000 peso note from Chile. It has  Ignacio Carrera Pinto on the front and the Torres del Paine  national park on the reverse. The 1000 peso is the first in a series of 4 banknotes in this issue. the note is from 2012.

you can find more notes from Chile HERE

THE SECOND MADIBA NOTE

Here is the follow up to the 10 rand note earlier in the week . its the 20 Rand note with Madiba (nelson Mandela ) but this note is from 2012. The Reverse has one of my favourite animals , the Elephant, although I have only seen the Indian elephant in real life

these notes (all south african rand) are also used in Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia

THE EMBARRASSED PARROT FROM FIJI

I think i left the best of this bunch of notes til last !! this one could become my new favourite. It is a 5 dollar polymer note from Fiji. It has the possibly extinct, kulawai bird, a small member of the parrot family, on the front and a crested iguana, balaka palm and a masiratu plant on the reverse.

I love how this little parrot looks permanently embarrassed. my other two favourite notes are HERE and Here . The 5 colon  note from costa rica and the 20 dollar from Singapore respectively, I love for their colour and also any of the old french notes that are works of art in themselves.

You can see more from fiji HERE

ONE MORE IN THE SRI LANKAN SERIES

The note above is the 500 rupee note from Sri Lanka and makes up the part of the new series - only the 1000 and 2000 rupee notes to get !! I will let the central bank of Sri Lanka describe the note -

 Front of the Note
The front of the note depicts an artist’s impression of the World Trade Center and Bank of Ceylon headquarters in the city of Colombo and the ancient Buddhist temple ‘Lankathilaka Viharaya’ at Kandy in the background. The bird Sri Lanka Emerald Collared Parakeet (Layard’s Parakeet - Psittacula calthropae) is depicted on the right of the note and on the lower left side appears the butterfly, The Ceylon Indigo Royal (Tajuria arida).

Back of the Note
On the back of the note, when held vertically, a Thelme Netuma dancer and a Yak Bera drummer are depicted. On the top right of the note appears a Padmanidhi guard stone and a Dvithva liya vela (a stylised floral design) along the right side of the note.

Layards parakeet

NELSON MANDELA NOTE

Here we have a South African note with Madiba, or Nelson Mandela on the front, It is the 10 Rand note from 2014. On the reverse it has a rhinoceros. the note has writing in English, Afrikaans and swati. Each denomination of the note series has Madiba and english on the from and two other languages on the reverse - 20 Rand = Southern Ndebele and Tswana, 50 rand = Venda and Xhosa, 100 rand = Northern Sotho and Tsonga and finally, the 200 rand note has Sotho and Zulu languages on it.

see other south african notes HERE

Mandela day 2009

POLYMER NOTE FROM THE MALDIVES

This is the 10 Rufiyaa note from the Maldives, issued in 2015. The front has a "toddy tapper" while the reverse has the oldest drum in the national museum called a bodu beru.  It also has a triangular collection of dots in the top left for people with visual disabilities.

more from the maldives here

REVALUED CEDI FROM GHANA

I have a new  batch of notes in so we will start with this one from Ghana. The note here is a 1 Cedi note from 2013 with independence arch and the " big six" on the front and the Akosombo dam on  the reverse.

Find more notes from Ghana HERE and HERE

SET FROM MADAGASCAR

These notes are a part set from Madagascar. The set are all from 2004 . The 500 Ariary has a man weaving on the front and cattle on the reverse, whereas i'm unsure what is on the front of 200 Ariary note but it looks like either a hut or some kind of gate, on the reverse is some type of totems with the first one having something like a bus from the flintstones on the top. The 100 Ariary note has the travellers  tree on the front. 1 Ariary is the equivalent to 5 Madagascar Francs

More from madagascar HERE

Madagascar Lemurs - David Attenborough

50 SOM FROM KYRGYZSTAN

Here is the 50 Som note from Kyrgyzstan. The note is from 2009 and has  Kurmanjan-datka , queen of the south, who helped the Kyrgyz nation to accept annexation from the Russian Empire in 1876. The reverse has the Uzgen minaret and mausoleum. the ancient city of Uzgen has the mausoleum which was built in the 11th century for  Karakhanid Nasr ibn Ali and the later minaret from the early 20th century.

Find more from Kyrgyzstan HERE and HERE

SRI LANKA COMMEMORATIVE NOTE

Above is the commemorative banknote from Sri Lanka. It commemorates 50 years of independence from Britain - 1948-1998. Formerly called Ceylon under the British colonisation . This note is the 200 Rupee note from 1998. It has a temple on the front with a fresco along the bottom. On the reverse is the royal palace in Kandy.

see more from Sri Lanka HERE and HERE

MIS IDENTIFIED UKRAINE

This note has been popping back and forth between Uzbekistan and Ukraine as I couldn't definitely identify the note but I finally have sussed it out. Although this note has 2006 on reverse it is actually the 2003 issue. the note is a 1 Hyrvnai note from the Ukrainian national bank.

This note has Vladimir the great on the front and  his fortress in Kiev   on the reverse

TWO OLD GERMAN NOTES

Here we have 2 notes from the first part of the 20th century. The first note (top two pics) is the 1908 100 Mark note. Three issues were released at once, this one has a green serial number, one other has a red serial number and the third has Mercury, Ceres and Germania on the note.

The second note is a uniface (printed on one side only) note and it is the 2 million mark note from 1923. Right in the middle of the weirmar hyperinflation period.

More German notes  HERE

CANADIAN 2 DOLLAR NOTE

This is a 1986 issue of the Canadian dollar with Queen Elizabeth II and the Centre Block of the parliament building to the right of her. The reverse has a couple of American Robins in a field.

More Canadian notes HERE

POLISH 5 MAREK NOTE

Here we have a very well used 5 Marek Polish Mark) note issued in poland in 1919. This was the 3rd issue of that year. During and after the second world war Poland was administered by Austria and there were 4 currencies in circulation in Poland but none of them Polish, in 1917 they issued their own currency linked to the German mark but with the war and armed struggles after the polish currency failed and inflation went through the roof.

The note above was issued at the start of the hype inflation.the 1922-23 issue starts at 10000 marek as the lowest note.

This note has Tadeusz Kosciuszko , a military leader from the late 1700's and early 1800's on the front right of the note

More Polish Notes HERE and HERE and Danzig notes HERE

I FOUND LENIN !!

Before we get to Lenin, here is a more modern Russian note - the 10000 rouble note from 1995. This was the second issue after the dissolution of the USSR on Christmas day 1991. It has the bridge over the river Yenisei at Krasnoyarsk along with the Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Chapel . the reverse has the hydro electric dam at Kranovarsk.

And now for Lenin. Here he is on the 1 Chervonet note from 1937, 13 years after his death. The Chervonet was used as a parallel currency while the civil war was being fought in Russia and the Bolshevik government was trying to devalue the rouble. the name comes from the polish Czerwony zloty. There is some debate but this issue might have been issued to commemorate 20 years of the Bolshevik revolution !! although not very valuable, this is a note I wanted to get for a while.

See more Russian notes HERE and HERE 

TWO ITALIAN GENTLEMEN

These are two Italian notes from the 1970's. The first is the 1976, 10000 lire note with Machiavelli on the front.

The second note is the 2000 lire from 1973. It has Galileo on the front and the zodiac and the Galileo telescope on the reverse. If you look closely it also has the leaning tower of pisa on the front.

More Italian Notes HERE