IRELAND , REPUBLIC OF

The Republic of Ireland consists of all but 6 counties of the island of Ireland with its capital city as Dublin. English invasions began in the 12th century and a continued program of invasions and occupation continued until the early 20th century. In 1916, the Easter uprisings started a long and brutal war which resulted in the Irish Free State in 1921 which included the 26 southern counties. In 1949 Ireland withdrew from the British commonwealth and in 1973 joined the EU. IT adopted the Euro in 2003.

Monetary Units:

1 Pound = 20 shillings= 240 pence (up to 1971)
1 Pound = 100 pence (1971 - 2003)                           * Punt is the Irish for Pound
1 Euro = 100 cents (2003 onward)

the two notes from the 1960's Above are the £1 (Pound or Punt) from 1969 with a lady on the front - it is rumoured that it is Lady Lavery, wife of sir john Lavery with one half in English and the other in Irish and a river god in the centre of the reverse. below that is the 10 shillings note  (10 /-) from 1966 with a similar layout.

The notes above are the £5 and £1 notes with only Irish on the front and English on the reverse. the £5 is from 1993 with Johannes Scottus Eriugena, a Irish philosopher from the middle ages on the front and some ancient writing on the reverse. the £1 note is from 1979 with Queen Medb, from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology and the ancient writing on the reverse.

This £5 (this time using the "phunt" spelling) Has Catherine McAuley and the Mater Misericordiae Hospital on the front with school children on the reverse.

Although its not a Banknote I picked this up in a charity shop in county limerick a couple of years ago, a 1946 cheque for £25.0.0. (25 pounds , no shillings and no pence)

IRELAND, NORTHERN

 Northern Ireland, also known as the 6 counties, is the northern part of Ireland which is still a part of Britain (the united kingdom of great Britain and northern Ireland) and has a capital city of Belfast. From 1800 to 1921 the island of Ireland was part of (or occupied by) Britain. 1921 saw the setting up of the Irish Free State which consisted of the 26 counties where there was a Catholic majority. this was later to become the Republic of Ireland. the 6 counties of the North east, which were largely Protestant, became Northern Ireland and stayed within the British state.

Banknotes issued by Northern Irish banks are legal tender in northern Ireland only but are accepted in other countries of the UK. Northern Ireland has 4 banknote issuing banks which are :

The bank of Ireland

The Northern Bank

The Ulster bank

The First Trust Bank (formerly allied Irish Banks and before that the provincial bank of Ireland)

Monetary unit:

1 Pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence  ( up to 1971)
1 Pound = 100 pence (1971 onward)


The notes above are the Bank of Ireland £5 note and £1 note.The £5 note has the Queen's university of Belfast on the reverse -( all notes from the bank of Ireland between 1990 and 2008 had the university on the reverse) this note is from 1994, on the front we have Hibernia seated on the left with the 6 county sheilds on the upper middle of the note. the £1 note was discontinued in 1984 and the one we have here is a 1977 note with mercury on the left and a woman with a harp on the right on the front and the bank building with 4 illustrations of the manufacturing heritage - aeroplane , boat , paper and wool.

The Northern bank, now called Danske bank (from 2012) is one of the oldest banks in Ireland set up in 1809. The note above is the £10 note from 1993.It features J B Dunlop, the scotsman living in Ireland who invented the Pneumatic Tyre with an early car and bicycle featuring too. The Northern Bank is also noted for being the bank that was robbed for the biggest amount in either Irish or British History. The Northern Bank Robbery took place on 20th December 2004  and the robbers made of with over £26.5 million.Only one person has been charged with money laundering so far!!

The Ulster Bank limited , set up in 1836, is another of the big 4 issuing banks in Northern Ireland. The £1 above is the 1976 note featuring as most ulster bank notes do, 3 views of Belfast  and the reverse has the arms with the Latin  NIHIL IMPOSSIBILE ERIT VOBIS which roughly translates as Nothing shall be impossible (for) you. the £5 note has similar markings but is from 1992 and shows up horizontal and vertical bars under UV light. In 2006 Ulster Bank issued a commemorative issue for the anniversary of George Best's death.

Allied Irish banks Limited ,  is now called First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland (since 1991)> the note here is the £5 from 1984 with a young woman on the front and Dunluce Castle on the reverse.

IRAQ

The Republic of Iraq, formerly known as Mesopotamia, has its capital city as Baghdad. Iraq was formerly part of the ottoman empire and was occupied by Britain in the first world war and after in 1920 was made a League of nations mandate under British administration.A republic was declared in 1948 and there followed a series of military rulers. An costly 8 year was with Iran in 1980-88 followed by an invasion of Kuwait saw Iraq being at war with a US led coalition. after the liberation of Kuwait, the UN demanded that Iraq get rid of all its long range weapons and weapons of mass destruction. This  was used as an excuse for the second gulf war in 2003 which saw the removal of Saddam Hussein. A transitional government took over in 2005 and 2006 saw elections for a constitutional government.

Monetary unit:
1 dirham = 50 fils
1 Riyal = 200 fils
1 Dinar = 1000 fils

The first note above is the AH 1401 (1981) 10 dinar note with Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham , a very early Muslim Scientist on the front and and the Hadba minaret at Mosul

and below that is the 500 Dinar note from AH 1425 (CE 2004) with the Ducan Dam and a winged bull statue on the reverse.

This should be a 5 Dinar note from AH 1412 (CE 1992) with Sadam Hussein on the front and the tomb of the unknown soldier on the back. However, as you can see the printing is squint on the front and faint on the back which makes this either a misprint or more likely, a fake !!!

IRAN-AZERBAIJAN ?? help !!

As Far as i can work out Iran-Azerbaijan only existed for 1-2 years in 1945-6 when the soviet union declared the NW region of Iran as an autonimous region but cant really find any other info.

The note above is, I think, is a 50 Toman note from 1946 (SH 1324), other than that i have no info on it at all.

This note i bought as an Iran-Azerbaijanian note  but have no info on it at all and i suspect it has been mis-identified. anyone with a similar note or info on it would be greatly appreciated !! leave a comment and i will add it to here with a acknowledgement>

UPDATE: Finally found out some info on the note above it is from the Bukharan soviet people's republic. see more HERE

IRAN

The Islamic republic of Iran has its capital city of Tehran. Until 1935 it was known as Persia and became an Islamic republic in 1979 after a revolution exiled the Shah ( the monarch ) setting up a religious government with Ayatolllah Khomeini as the Supreme leader. For most of the 1980's Iran and Iraq fought a bloody war, US and Iranian relations have been strained since that time.

Monetary Units:
1 Shahi = 50 dinars    )
1 qiran = 20 shahis     ) (AH 1241 - AH 1344; SH 1204 - SH 1309; 1825 - 1931)
1 Toman = 20 qirans  )

1 Shahi = 5 Dinars                  )
1 rial = 20 Shahi = 100 dinars   )SH 1310 (1932) onward
1 Toman = 10 rials                  )

Tomans are not used in modern currency but people often refer to it in daily life.

The note above is the 100 Rials note from 198  with Ayatollah Modarres on the front and the parliament building on the reverse. this one has a watermark of Ayatollah Khomeini.

for more on the Solar Hijri (SH) calendar see here

INDONESIA

The republic of Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago , with it's capital city as Jakarta. collonised by the Dutch in the 17th century and occupied by the Japanese in the second part of the WWII (1942 - 45) and gained Independence from the dutch, after UN intervention, in 1949. It has the biggest muslim population in the world and has had internal conflict with it's people in Aceh and in Papua .

Monetary unit: 1 Rupiah = 100 sen (1945 onward )

The notes above are the 1964 "sen" set of notes from 1 - 50 sen printed on slightly thinker paper than would normally be used.

this note is the 1 Rupiah note from 1945 with President Sukarno on the front and  a smoking volcano , possibly Krakatoa, on the reverse.

The note above is the 1992 , 100 Rupiah note with a sailboat on the front and anak krakatoa on the reverse.

More notes added here

INDIA

The republic of India is a very large country in Asia with its capital city as New Delhi. India is a much conquered and occupied country but in recent times the British have been the occupiers since the 19th century until 1947 when the Indian independence movement headed by Mohandas Gandhi won the independence but internal strife saw the country divided into India, East Pakistan and West Pakistan. After a further conflict in 1971 East Pakistan became Bangladesh.

Monetary units:

1 Rupee = 100 Naye Paisa (1957 -64 )
1 Rupee = 100 Paisa (1964 onward )

The note above is a 10 Rupee note issued by the reserve bank of India from ND 1977 -82 issue and if you enlarge the front (click) you can see that under the serial number (under the 400) there is a hidden C, which makes it from the first part of the issue.

This is the 2006 issue of the 10 rupee note with Gandhi on the front and a mash-up of a tiger, elephant and rhino  on the back.

the 5 Rupee note above is a very much used note but as long as there no tears on it it will be accepted  but Indians are very careful about accepting damaged notes - note the pin holes in the white circle on the left of the front of the note - Indian currency is stapled together at the printing source so it is very unusual to find fully intact notes before 1998 when stapling was discontinued.

Languages

Although Standard Hindi is the official language of India  most states within the country have their own official language e.g. Tamil Nadu has Tamil as its official language and the Punjab has Punjabi as their's

Over the previous few decades India has had a problem with counterfeiting and so the reserve bank India has come up with this little website to let people know about their notes

ICELAND

On to the countries beginning with I !!! And to start .....

Iceland

The Republic of Iceland is an island east of Greenland with a capital city of Reykjavik.originally inhabited by Norwegian , Irish and Scottish settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries and after a period of 300 years of independence, was occupied by Norway and then Denmark. Limited Autonomy was granted by Denmark in 1874 and full independence came in 1944.

Monetary unit : 1 Krona = 100 Aurar (1874 onward )

The 10 Kronur note above has Arngrimur Jonsson, the Icelandic scholar, on the front and a household scene on the back. On the middle left of the note it has a date - 26 mars 1961 - which rfers to the date of the law granting the issue and actually the date of this is 1981.

The notes above again have a date of the law enabling them (1986) but their issue date is 1994. the 1000 Kronur has Bishop Byrnijolfur Sveinsson on the front and a church on the reverse. The right and left ends of the rectangular box taking up 2/3 rds of the front also reacts to UV light.

The 500 Kronur note, who's signatures say its from 1991-93, but is listed as 1994, has Jon Sigurosson, a leader in the Icelandic independence movement he is also featured on the back at his desk.

The 100 Kronur note, features Arni Magnusson, an icelandic scholar, the reverse has a monk illuminating a manuscript

Some nordic names are not inherited but are patronymic or matronymic in that if the father's first name is erik his son or daughter's second name will be called eriksson or eriksdottir and similarily with the matronymic system if the mother's name is inga the children's second name would be ingasson or ingadottir This website explains a bit better.