# Banknote Design **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751 "2005-12-15T17:37:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/1 "2005-12-15T17:37:23Z")
(In order to avoid completely hijacking another thread.) The Euro was born ugly. The US banknotes get uglier with each revision. Which country has the nicest paper money? What would you like your money to look like? Over [here](http://www.snb.ch/e/banknoten/neue_noten/content_neu.html), the Swiss National Bank had a banknoe design contest. I think the Third-Place set is the best. On the other hand, the first place entry has skulls, and skulls on money are cool. All the designs use lots of color and many security features (still no barcodes or RTF yet though.) Are there any sites on the net that talk about banknote design? ---
**Author:** ![j2browning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@j2browning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j2browning)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/2 "2005-12-15T17:41:09Z")
I used to like the Rand notes. But that was long ago. I can’t find any current examples. They had dramatic edge to edge bled and cropped closeup portraits, plus a mild scene in the background on the end of the picture, usually a famous monument or mill or light house. Simple but avant garde at the same time. And not cluttered at all. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/3 "2005-12-15T17:58:13Z")
My all-time fave is the old Netherlands [50-guilder note](http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/jpg/gulden50r.jpg). I also like the current Canadian 20-dollar note. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/4 "2005-12-15T18:20:50Z")
For lots of pictures of strange and/or beautiful money you must check out James Lileks’s [Engraveyard](http://lileks.com/money/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/5 "2005-12-15T18:41:27Z")
> [@j2browning](#): > > I used to like the Rand notes. But that was long ago. I can’t find any current examples. > They had dramatic edge to edge bled and cropped closeup portraits, plus a mild scene in the background on the end of the picture, usually a famous monument or mill or light house. > Simple but avant garde at the same time. And not cluttered at all. [http://gallery.hd.org/\_exhibits/money/South-Africa-Rand-crisp-new-notes-100-50-20-front-and-back-1-DHD.jpg](http://gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/money/South-Africa-Rand-crisp-new-notes-100-50-20-front-and-back-1-DHD.jpg) The first time I came here on a visit, I fell in love with the money. It’s bright, colorful, has pictures of the Big 5, features many (if not all, I’m not sure) of the 11 official languages on various notes. What I like most though? Each denomination is a different length. Kinda cool. However, I’m still not able to identify bills with anything even close to the ease with which I can identify American bills, and don’t even get me started on the coins. There are so many different ones, I just can’t get them all straight. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/6 "2005-12-15T21:26:36Z")
[Ours](http://www.rba.gov.au/CurrencyNotes/NotesInCirculation/index.html) are colourful. And they’re [plastic](http://www.rba.gov.au/CurrencyNotes/SecurityFeaturesAndCounterfeitDetection/security_features_on_australias_notes.html) too! ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/7 "2005-12-15T21:58:12Z")
I was quite partial to the Belgian 200-franc note, the last of the four samples shown [here](http://tomchao.com/eu/eu6.html), which commemorated [Adolph Sax](http://www.geocities.com/sax411/sax/history/adolphsax.html), inventor of the saxophone. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/8 "2005-12-16T05:07:21Z")
Does the Canadian fifty still Mounties with lances on the reverse? I always liked that one. The Rand under the previous government was nice, very subdued and conservative. Still those Swiss bills kick butt. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banknote-design/335751/9 "2005-12-16T06:21:42Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > Does the Canadian fifty still Mounties with lances on the reverse? I always liked that one. The Rand under the previous government was nice, very subdued and conservative. No, that was two series ago. Now it has the [Famous Five](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Valiant_Five), [Thérèse Casgrain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_Casgrain), and a quotation from the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights). > [@](#): > > Still those Swiss bills kick butt. Yep.