BARBADOS

Barbados is an independent state within the British commonwealth. Barbados gained independence in 1966.

The two notes above are the five Dollar ($5) and two Dollar ($2). the $5 is from 1975 and has a portrait of Sir F Worrell , The first black captain of the West  Indies cricket Team. The $2 is from 1980 and the portrait here is of J R Bovell, a scientist. the reverse of both notes depicts the Trafalgar square in Bridgetown, the capital.

BANGLADESH

The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, formally East Pakistan  is a country in between India and Burma (Myanmar). its capital is Dhaka.West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East Bengal separated from India in 1947. then in 1955 East Bengal became  East Pakistan and Finally in 1971 became a country in its own right called Bangladesh. the currency up until 1972 was the Rupee and then changed to the Taka.

The 3 notes above (pics 3 +4 are the same note) are two 10 taka notes (pics 1+2) and a 2 Taka note.
The first 10 Taka note is from 1982. No date visible (ND) and has the Atiya Jam-e mosque on the front and a hydro electric dam on the back.

the second pic is again a 10 Taka note but this time from 1977 (ND) , the front has the Star Mosque in Dhaka and the back has a scene from harvesting rice fields

the Final one is the 2 Taka note. Again it has no date on the note but looking it up they were issued from 1988 onwards, so it takes a bit of detective work to see which year it's from.What i can say for sure that its somewhere between 1988 and before 2002. the front has a monument and  the back has a nice picture of a dhyal, a magpie- robin type bird.

BAHRAIN

Bahrain is a group of islands in the Persian gulf just offshore from Saudi Arabia. Up until 1971 it was a British protectorate when it became an independent state.

the note here is the two sides of a 1 Dinar, no date on it but its from 2007. The front has a picture of El hedaya al khalifya school and the reverse has Arabian horses and the salt and pearl monument from the capital Manama.

The commonwealth of the Bahamas is a group of around 3000 islands. it is situated east of Florida and north of Cuba. Its capital is Nassau.the Bahamas became independent from Britain in 1973. Its indigenous peoples are called the Lucayans.

The note above is a 50 cent note ( referred to as a half dollar) from 2001 with the queen of England on the front and Sister Sarah in the Nassau market on the reverse

you can find more about the Bahamas notes here

AND ON TO B'S

On to the countries starting with B. this is a bit of a marathon as there are 22 countries listed from Bahamas to Burundi and I think I've got one or two older ones not listed there.

so Bahamas ......

FIRST LETTER DOWN , 25 TO GO

Well thats all the countries begining with A  on to B now - unless you know better. Any countries i missed in A?

AZERBAIJAN

Azerbaijan, the former soviet union state gained independence in 1991. Azerbaijan and Armenia are still in conflict over the briefly independent enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Its banknotes are in Manat.

here above we have the two sides of a 50 Manat note issued 1993, the from has the ruined tower of Maiden the reverse has a design with the star and crescent from the Azerbaijani flag.

AUSTRIA

Here we have the Republic of Austria, a country in central Europe, which was once the centre of the austro-hungarian empire until world war one. it is now a member of the European union and of the "Euro-zone". Its banknotes were in schillings until 2002 and then Euros since

so if we start at the top the first two pics are of the front and back of a one Krone note from 1919 (as its got a green overprint on the note similar to the 1916 one) this is probably the first issue after the WW1 has finished.

Pic 3 is from 1984 100 schilling note with Eugen Bohm V Bawerk, an Austrian economist, the reverse is wissenschaften academy  Pic 4, from 1986 50 schillings, with Sigmund Freud on the front and Vienna's Josephinum medical school on the reverse. Pic 5 is the 20 schilling note from 1986 with Moritz Daffinger and the Albertina Museum on the reverse.

Pic ^ is a slightly earlier issue from 1970. the 50 schilling note has a portrait of  Ferdinand Raimund , an Austrian actor and the Burg Theatre, Europe's second oldest theatre,  on the reverse.

And finally, the last two pics are front and back of a 20 Kronen note and is  from 1907. i'm assuming that the kronen / korona is because it is from the austro-hungarian empire and that would be the two languages used ???? . I don't have much more info on this one but if someone has more please post it in the comments . TA.

AUSTRALIA

Australia has the distinction of being the smallest continent and the largest island in the world. its currency was pounds until 1966 and then the dollar. it is still part of the British commonwealth.

Surprisingly , this is the only Australian banknote i have in my collection. its a 1 dollar note from 1983 (i think) - there are lots of years with the same design , so it comes down to the signature john stone is fine but the other looks like it may be R A Johnston if it is then its 1983. the reverse has aboriginal art. Australia was the first to produce a polymer note in 1988 and are now commonplace there.

ARUBA

Aruba was the biggest island in the Netherland Antilles until 1986, when it became an autonomous member of the Netherlands. full independence was halted , by the request of Aruba in 1990.

This is a 5 Florin note from 1990. the front has a picture of a sea turtle and the reverse has some Pre-Colombian Aruban tribal art.

ARMENIA

This very serious looking man is Aram Khachaturian , a soviet Armenian composer. the reverse shows Mount Ararat and a scene from the Gayene ballet where the music was by Aram Khachaturian. This 50 dram note is from 1998.

The Republic of Armenia is a country which is bordered by Azerbaijan , Turkey, Georgia and Iran and has the distinction of being the first country to officially adopt Christianity as it's state religion in the 4th century AD

ARGENTINA

The Argentine republic is a country in south america bordered by Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile. in 1816 the provinces of the Rio Plata were declared independent from Spain and after Bolivia,  Uruguay and Paraguay  set up as independent countries, what was left became Argentina.the country has gone through a few monetary changes over the last few decades :

the peso ( up to 1970)
new peso (1970 - 83)
peso argentino (83- 85)
the austral (85- 92)
the peso ( 1992 onwards)

The 50 Australes above is from the period 86-89 and has a portrait of B Mitre. whereas the 5 Australes has a portrait of J J de Urquiza, both previous presidents of the state. both reverse sides have liberty seated with her shield and torch

ANTARCTICA

These guys are not technically money banknotes, in that they are not issued by a country, as such, but by the company that operates in the Antarctic. However,I think they are well designed and have a few notable things about them. 

First, the 10 dollar note has a quote from "Scott of the Antarctic" saying "great god, this is an awful place ... for god's sake look after our people" . Now I don't think any country would put that on their money !!!

Next, this was the first notes that I bought that were made of Polymer, a substance that is being used more and more across the globe.

I'll stick some videos of the new Canadian polymer banknotes on the Canada page when I get to them.

ANGOLA

The Peoples Republic of Angola is a country in south west Africa bounded bay Zaire, Zambia and Namibia. In 1976 the notes were changed from escudos to Kwanzas. Angola has suffered from a civil war of 27 years which finished in 2002.

Unfortunately, the notes above are not a set as they come from 3 different years. first is the 50,000 Kwanzas from 1995, the front of all the notes have a picture of both Jose Eduardo dos Santos and Antonio Agostinho Neta . the reverse of the 50,000 Kwanza note has a picture of the telecommunications centre at Luanda .

Next is the 100 Kwanza note from 1991, with the reverse showing the rocks at Pungo Andongo and a tribal mask on the right.

The next 4 notes are a part set in that they all come from 1999. the 50 Kwanza has on the reverse an oil rig, while the 10 Kwanza has two antelope with their horns entwined (as if they are crooning an old song !!) . The 5 kwanza has a mountain and the 1 Kwanza has women picking cotton on the reverse.

A wee note here to say that an important aspect of the notes are the signature or signatures which change over time and can place a note in a particular time frame especially if the country is going through a turbulent time. If you click on the 1 and the 50,000 kwanza pics to enlarge them you will see that they are different signatures. this can be useful if the note's artwork doesn't change but the signature (and possibly the country's government) has changed.

ALGERIA

The Peoples Democratic Republic of Algeria is a north African country between Morocco and Tunisia. Formerly a French dependent territory, Algerians fought a bloody war to gain independence in 1962. there is a classic film about the struggle called the battle of Algiers . In 1964 the denominations changed from Francs to Dinars.  

The note above is a 5 Franc note from 1942. I don't know much more about this note but will update as soon as I find out anything. ( or you can leave a comment if you can help)

ALBANIA

The Republic of Albania is a Balkans country bordered by Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece. a former eastern bloc communist country.

The note above is a 1 Lek note from 1964 in the communist era, the front depicts a peasant couple and the reverse is a picture of the fortress at Skhoder.

AFGHANISTAN

The, Much Invaded, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, was founded in 1747 but only got independence from British rule in 1919, then in 1979 was invaded by soviet troops to help a communist takeover bid and then in 2001 by a British / American led alliance who are still there today. It is bordered by many countries , including Pakistan, Iran , and China.

The notes above are a 500 afghani note from the solar year(sh) date 1370 (i think) which would make it 1991. the reverse (pic 1) has a picture of the fort at kabul and the front (pic 2) has horsemen playing a game called Buzkashi.

The other, lovely pink, note is a 1 afghani is from sh1381, thats 2002, the building on the back is the beautiful mosque at Mazar-i sharif

AFARS AND ISSACS

The French overseas territory of Afars and Issacs is a country on the horn of Africa between the Suez canal and the Indian ocean. it was formally known as French Somaliland and after independence was renamed Djobouti after its capital city.

I love the French territories Banknotes as i think they are some of the most artistic banknotes. above is a 5000 Franc note from 1975 although it has no date on the note itself .

For reference i use The standard of world paper money although they are quite expensive and need to be updated regularly. I wish they would publish updates and not make you buy the whole book again. You can usually find previous editions on ebay or other such places.

OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE COLLECTION

Well that's Scotland for now, but before we move on, a couple of links that may be helpful.

1. The committee of scottish bankers has a good short history of Scottish banking and they are very helpful if you email them. (the name of the blog is similar but there is no connection). their links page is good too.

2. The museum on the mound is a great place if you are in Edinburgh on holiday (and its free) and has lots of interactive things for kids (and big kids) to play with. the staff are really helpful and, of course, the obligatory gift shop too.

3. The City of Edinburgh Museums , again if you are visiting or live in or around Edinburgh, if you email them when you are going to be in Edinburgh they can make an appointment for you to see some of their collections not on display, including some of the local notes from the last few centuries

Museum on the Mound

Bliadhna mhath ur !!

Happy new year !!

Ath bhliain faoi mhaise !!

Happy New Year to everyone !! may all your dreams come true in 2013