"Europa": 2nd series of euro banknotes

[avij]

No surprises there, the style is very similar to the new fiver. But if you have a look at the edges, you will see that there is a gap in the group of raised lines. I guess this helps the visually impaired.

The copyright year seems to be 2014, they've bumped that up as well.

[tabbs]

What I find a little peculiar is the copyright notice. On one hand, it says "2014" at the end - OK, fine. But on the other hand, the list of European Central Bank abbreviations has not been updated. If you compare it to this http://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/shared/img/6_big.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , shouldn't the Croatian version (ESB) be displayed on the notes too? If the note says "2014", then it is odd to leave "ESB" out ...

Christian

[Craft]

No surprises there, the style is very similar to the new fiver.

I thought of drawing a sketch of the new tenner before it was unveiled today, anticipating how it would look like. I didn't make a drawing though, but it would have been quite close to the real one. Virtually no surprises, I agree (except for one, see underneath).

But if you have a look at the edges, you will see that there is a gap in the group of raised lines. I guess this helps the visually impaired.

In the fiver the raised lines form a continuous pattern, but in the tenner there is this gap. Thinking about any note design process, one could first make a guess that there should be fewer of the raised patterns in the smaller denominations and more and more towards the larger denominations (not due to the increasing physical size of the notes but to reflect their increasing value). But then you'd think about practical security for visually impaired people. If a note gets worn out, some of the patterns could disappear. How would a person interpret such a note: fewer patterns, less value. So a €50 note could be mistaken as a €20 note, for example, since you feel fewer raised lines than there should be. You'd give a €50 to another person to pay for a €15 purchase, thinking it is a €20 and saying aloud "Here you have twenty euros", and then it depends on the other one if (s)he is honest enough to give you €35 instead of just €5 as change. But now, as there are fewer patterns the higher the note, it goes the other way round: if some of the lines on a €50 wear off, you'd think it is a €100 and be careful with it.

I have noticed similar logic in other currencies too: there are various kinds of repeated raised patterns for the visually impaired ones, but the higher the note value, the fewer times the pattern is repeated, and in the highest denomination there is only one of them. For example, on the last series of Finnish Markka notes, there were raises hollow circles: five of them on the FIM10 note, then four, three, two, and finally on the FIM1000 only one.

Unfortunately, this logic may be dangerous, too. If you (as a visually impaired person) should get €100 from somenone, but get a €50 note instead where some patterns have worn off, you could think that you really got a €100 note.

Maybe this reasoning is not correct at all, but there's some other reason for using fewer patterns in higher values on different currencies. Anyone?

Fortunately, there are other clues of the notes' values, the most obvious one being their increasing physical size. But the largest ones (€100, €200, and €500) may be more difficult to tell apart from each other than the more common ones (€5, €10, €20, €50), judging only By their size.

The copyright year seems to be 2014, they've bumped that up as well.

That was actually a surprise.

BTW, take a look at the bridge on the reverse side: it has a new 3D design, compared to the 2D appearance on the older tenner. This suggests similar change in the future new versions of higher denominations. (From the new fiver you really couldn't see that coming yet, since the older fiver exceptionally has a 3D bridge, too - contrary to all the other older denominations, where the bridges are 2D.)

Easy to compare here.

[melitikus]

also somewhere I read that in the new series they will prolong the durability of the €5, €10 and €20 and will give a special focus on the security features for the higher denominations - so i wont be surprised if on the €50-€500 we will see special features e.g. transparent windows

[ART]

Definitely better than the old series, as it was easy to predict, but the color change from red to pink prevalent just do not like it...

[MDeen]

But if you have a look at the edges, you will see that there is a gap in the group of raised lines. I guess this helps the visually impaired.

In the fiver the raised lines form a continuous pattern, but in the tenner there is this gap. Thinking about any note design process, one could first make a guess that there should be fewer of the raised patterns in the smaller denominations and more and more towards the larger denominations (not due to the increasing physical size of the notes but to reflect their increasing value). But then you'd think about practical security for visually impaired people. If a note gets worn out, some of the patterns could disappear. How would a person interpret such a note: fewer patterns, less value. So a €50 note could be mistaken as a €20 note, for example, since you feel fewer raised lines than there should be. You'd give a €50 to another person to pay for a €15 purchase, thinking it is a €20 and saying aloud "Here you have twenty euros", and then it depends on the other one if (s)he is honest enough to give you €35 instead of just €5 as change. But now, as there are fewer patterns the higher the note, it goes the other way round: if some of the lines on a €50 wear off, you'd think it is a €100 and be careful with it.

The old gulden notes in the Netherlands all had proper tactile areas. In the Erflaters series it was a decreasing number of dots with increasing value: fl 5 was 4 dots, fl 10 was 3 dots, fl 25 was 2 dots, fl 100 was 1 dot and fl 1000 was 0 dots.
I'm sure the designers thought this through.

[+BBBB+]

Definitely better than the old series, as it was easy to predict, but the color change from red to pink prevalent just do not like it...

The color looks brown-purple to me. Perhaps this could create small problems in the first 3-4 years, with the banknotes of €50 in circulation, which are colored orange-brown. Of course the size of the banknotes differs but the color is also important.

[Craft]

I just realized that there is something totally new in the design of the new tenner, something that didn't exist at all on the old version. I'm not speaking about the emerald number 10 or Europa's face or additional colours or the other obvious new elements, but something about the image. Can you find it? It's clearly visible once you realize it's there, but not that easy at first. I could even say it's a kind of hidden image.

Now that it's there, I suppose that we'll see such a thing in the higher denominations, too.

[nossi]

I just realized that there is something totally new in the design of the new tenner, something that didn't exist at all on the old version. I'm not speaking about the emerald number 10 or Europa's face or additional colours or the other obvious new elements, but something about the image. Can you find it? It's clearly visible once you realize it's there, but not that easy at first. I could even say it's a kind of hidden image.

Now that it's there, I suppose that we'll see such a thing in the higher denominations, too.

Something which doesn't appear on the ?

[mizar]

A whole building faintly visible in the background. I think it also appears on , but much less visible than on

[Craft]

A whole building faintly visible in the background. I think it also appears on , but much less visible than on

That's the one! Had you noticed it already or after my hint? I'm used to looking at architecture, but noticed it only after starting to wonder what the different bits and pieces on the background could mean. Then I suddenly saw that they form a pattern, a building but like behind a curtain of fog.

I think it's a really nice addition, considering that on the old series the windows or doors were immaterial sections not connected to anything. Now they will have a context and the overall design gets depth, compared to earlier flatness (and the same applies to the bridges on the reverse side). The building on the background seems to be a church with a tower, and its cylindrical apse is towards the viewer.

On the new fiver there is faintly something similar too, but there was really no need for much, since the triumphal arch itself is a whole 3D "building", not just a window/door section as on the other notes.

[mizar]

I needed a hint Who can find the closest inspiration?

[mizar]

What I find a little peculiar is the copyright notice. On one hand, it says "2014" at the end - OK, fine. But on the other hand, the list of European Central Bank abbreviations has not been updated. If you compare it to this http://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/shared/img/6_big.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , shouldn't the Croatian version (ESB) be displayed on the notes too? If the note says "2014", then it is odd to leave "ESB" out ...

Christian

The notes were printed in 2013 and designed and ordered even earlier, so apparently the issue date of the new series was certain enough, but not Croatia's joining EU. Also, EU enlarged to 25 members on 1st May 2004 and Slovenia introduced euro on 1st January 2007, but the coins update was decided only on 7th June 2005, introduced in 2007 and obligatory since 2008. I guess all the notes have been designed already, but I agree it would be strange if in let's say 2019 still leaves out ESB ...

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Any proofs (pictures) about who printed this batch of notes besides N (Austria)? Here are production figures. New in 2012 were printed in the 5 countries who commissioned them. In 2013 was commissioned by DE, CY, EE, GR, ES, FR, IE, IT, MT, LU, NL, AT, SI, SK, FI, so apart from N I expect at least R (+X/W), Y, V, U (+E), T, S and P, maybe also J/H, but not Z and M.

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EDIT: another curiosity, in the video presentation two different notes are featured: NA3802962421 like in all the pictures and NA3102933781/N002A3 at 0:29 (watermark). Maybe even 3 notes, the short code featured in specimen notes is N002H3 (visible in press pictures)

The issue date is confirmed to be 23 September, before that you can see notes in person first in Saarbrücken, from today till 31st March.

The new press kit also says: "The lower-denomination banknotes of the Europa series will be more durable as they have a protective coating. This means that they will need to be replaced less frequently, thus lowering costs and reducing the impact on the environment." So higher notes (100-500?) won't have the same feel?

[giulcenc]

In this video http://www.ecb.europa.eu/shared/flash/p ... start=true you can see some S/S :note-10:s during their production at Istituto Poligrafico Zecca dello Stato near Rome.

[Craft]

The new press kit also says: "The lower-denomination banknotes of the Europa series will be more durable as they have a protective coating. This means that they will need to be replaced less frequently, thus lowering costs and reducing the impact on the environment." So higher notes (100-500?) won't have the same feel?

That may be correct. The higher-denomination notes circulate more slowly and they are treated more carefully because of their high value. Therefore, their life-span is longer and they don't seem to need improved protection against wear and tear.