Just a small correction: the serial number, despite its name (serial
number), is in fact the whole code, including the initial letter(s). This is in fact valid for other serial numbers in other currency, or in other products. As the
article on Serial number on Wikipedia puts it,
Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist entirely of a character string.
Also, note that the serial number goes generally up as a batch of banknotes is printed, but there are complex numbering schemes that aren't just going up from 000… to 999…
Finally: the last digit of every Euro banknote is a check digit. Although it's part of the serial number, it doesn't belong to the numbering scheme (for example, EA000…001 is not followed by EA000…002; instead, it goes from EA000…00
1 to EA000…01
9 (the last digits, shown here in
pale magenta, are check digits). So if you happen to withdraw a series of fresh new banknotes, you will notice this kind of numbering where the second-to-last digit is the one rising up, not the last one.