Why is there a smaller serial number on notes?

[Fabi_an]

Especially on the Europa series, theres a serial number, 12 digit but on the vertically there's also the same serial number but shorteneed to last 6 digits, why's that? And also why are there two alphabet letters compared to one in I series?

[trezay]

there's also the same serial number but shorteneed to last 6 digits, why's that?

As far as I know there’s not a specific reason for that, it’s just the way the notes were designed.

And also why are there two alphabet letters compared to one in I series?

According to Wikipedia :

The second letter of the new serial numbers is part of the serial number itself, and has no further significance.

[lmviterbo]

The second letter was needed when the 11 digits weren't enough for at least some of the printers. For example, in the first series, notes printed by Giesecke & Devrient headquarters in Munich bore serial numbers with X as its initial letter. This was followed by 11 digits, but the last one doesn't count because it's a check digit. So when they printed close to 10 (short) billion (= 10,000,000,000 = 10¹⁰) notes, numbering got up to X962… If they kept on printing following the sae numbering scheme, serial numbers would go up to X999… then what?

This is the reason why "Europa" (= 2nd series) Euro banknotes have a second letter. Now the Munich factory prints XA, and may start printing XB some time. Some other printworks produce a lot more this time, so second letters are already being used for a number of different first letters. For example, the Bundesdruckerei in Berlin has already issued RA, RB, RC, RD and RE banknotes (although they didn't print all RA up to RA9…, nor RB up to RB9, nor any of the rest in fact, but that's another story). Over all (for the sum of all first letters), 20 different second letters have already been used. Even if only 20 second letters are ever printed, that would double the amount of possible numbers for any first letter (20 different letters vs 10 different digits).

[Tárrega]

Is this normal? There printer code on this Belgian is slightly smaller than other printer codes

Don't know if it's totally normal and just something I've never seen before, or actually something special. Please help!

[Tárrega]

I don't know if it's the right thread, but I couldn't find a matching one..

[LArdennais]

It's absolutely normal.

[Tárrega]

Okay! Thanks for letting me know Is there a certain cause why it's smaller?

[avij]

Especially on the Europa series, theres a serial number, 12 digit but on the vertically there's also the same serial number but shorteneed to last 6 digits, why's that?

My theory has always been that if the note gets torn in half, having the last 6 digits on the "other side" makes it possible to say that this half matches the other half.

As for why the printer's code is smaller, again, probably no specific reason. I guess the Euro banknote specification allows for some variation in font sizes and this time the font happened to be slightly smaller, maybe to fit in the "wider" Z character.

[LArdennais]

Okay! Thanks for letting me know Is there a certain cause why it's smaller?

Just the printer's choice.

[uvy]

Especially on the Europa series, theres a serial number, 12 digit but on the vertically there's also the same serial number but shorteneed to last 6 digits, why's that?

Looks like the old French numbering: the full number at the top and the last 6 digits at the bottom of the banknote.

20 FR Numbering.JPG (42.93 KiB) Viewed 686 times

Modern Norwegian numbering like the euro only in reverse: vertical full number and horizontal the last 6 digit. Printed by Oberthur in France (2016-2019)

50 Kr (2017).jpg (120.92 KiB) Viewed 686 times