Currencies of the World

In my youth,  my two aunts who had never married and spent much of their free time traveling all over the world, had regularly given me bills and coins of foreign currencies.  Later, when my brother started traveling he also kept paper bills for me. This continued with my own travels.  Whenever I came across nice looking notes,  I would try to find one in good condition and keep them in a book to add to my ever growing collection back home.   I would also pick some up now and then if I came across some coin and stamp collection shop that had some interesting bank notes.

Don Quixote on a Spanish Peseta

What I love about paper money from different  countries is that they are a reflection of each country's history, culture, environment or politics. Also, they keep changing them every ten years or so (sometimes faster if there is a huge devaluation of a currency). On the other hand, some countries have joined forces for one single currency.  Unfortunately for my collection,  the Euro has eliminated over a dozen such classic currencies as the franc, the mark, the peseta or the lire.  This has also happened in parts of Africa.  Conversely,  with the disappearance of the Soviet Union, a dozen new currencies were created.  There are many similar themes on bank notes. Often, in developing  countries,  you see imagery of progress with pictures of tractors or industry. Others would be historical or political personalities.  Images of local flora and fauna  is also very common.  I have some bills with long gone strongmen and tyrants such as Idi Amin Dada or Saddam Hussein.  Some bills are very colourful,  others more classic in design.  Others include the latest technologies to prevent counterfeiting.   Here is a sample of various bills that I really like from the beginning of the twentieth century right up to recent times. 

German marks from the 1920s

Greek drachma, 1944

Beautiful bills from Hungary. top 1941 bottom 1952

Two more Hungarian forint from the 1990s

Irish pounds  before the Euro.  This series of bills has some great calligraphy.

20 Francs,  1942

The last series of the Franc before the Euro, with a great ode to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and "Le Petit Prince"

I love the simplistic graphics of this 1991 bill from Lithuania

a 1909 bill from Russia

A heroic figure from the Ukraine

Georgia 1990s

10 Kroner -  Denmark, 1936

50 Lire - Italy,  1951

The next series of currencies are from Asia.   The Chinese and Japanese ones are from the 1930s. I also included a few bills from French Indochina in the 1940s which have a typical "orientaliste" theme of native culture as seen through the eyes of Europeans.  Two bills from Cambodia reflect  different political climates,  one from the independent 'Royaume du Cambodge', the other from Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge communist regime in 'Kampuchea'. 

China 1935 (top) and 1930 (bottom)

China  1953

Japan  10 yen

Cambodia 1970 with Angkor Wat's famous temples and Khmer Rouge's revolutionary Kampuchea 1975 

Two bills from North Korea,  with the 'Great Leader' Kim Il Sung

I like this small, simple note from Indonesia  1964

Burma, 1970s

an unusual square commemorative note from Thailand

Nepal, 1990s

40th anniversary of the creation of Bangladesh after it's war and succession from Pakistan

Beautiful Islamic patterns on these notes from Uzbekistan

A traditional outrigger canoe from the South Pacific island state of the Cook Islands

Tahiti 1970s

Acknowledgment of Aborigines' culture on this commemorative Australian 10 $ note

Next are the Americas, Africa and the Middle East.   When I was a kid, the colourful Canadian bills with a young Queen and classic Canadian wilderness scenes on the back were my favourite bills.  I included the greenback from the USA.  For all its importance as a global currency, it is one of the most traditional and classic notes which, up until recently, has barely changed at all in its design and appearance.  

A series of this 20$ bill has a "demon" in the Queen's hair.  Do you see it? 

As an avid kayaker,  I love this scene of Inuit with their traditional boats.

"Real money is green" I once heard an American say.  I do like their classic one dollar bill,
even if they should discontinue it and turn it into a coin.  

One of the few bills from Cuba that show Fidel Castro

Nice symmetry of this 5 cruzeiros bill from Brazil (top) and an acknowledgement
of indigenous peoples in a later,much inflated cruzeiro of the 90s.

Classic bank note from Chile,  1961

No shortage of cultural imagery, fascinating portraits and geography for currencies from Africa.

The colonial and post-colonial bills are often colourful and represent daily scenes of people 

or animals. 

L'Afrique Occidentale Française et Togo,  1956

États de l'Afrique équatoriale, 1963

L'Afrique Occidentale,  1941

Belgian Congo, 1953

Banque de la République du Mali,  1960

Cameroon,  1962

The "leopard of Africa" Mobutu Sese Seko,  the long standing dictator of Zaire

Idi Amin Dada's Uganda 1970s

Guinée, 1960

The hyper-inflated note ( ten billion! ) of Mugabe's Zimbabwe

Education,  a common theme on bank notes,  this one from the ever-reclusive state of Eritrea.

An Ethiopian 100 dollar bill during Emperor Haile Selassie's reign,
with his classic "Lion of Judah" symbol. 1960s.

Egypt,  1940

Muammar Gaddafi's  Libya,  1980

Shah's Iran,  1970

A 1990s Iraqi bill with Saddam Hussein

One Riyal, Saudi Arabia

"dix livres" Banque du Liban

One shekel,  Israel,  1958

Turkey,  1970.  One of the few bills that do not have the omni-present
 portrait of Ataturk (founder of modern Turkey) but rather
a nod to their Ottoman past depicting one of the Sultans. 

Currency and paper money are fun to alter in an artistic sort of way.  Here are a few examples of some that I have done.