Comments on: Fiveargh

By: jasper emmering

jasper emmering — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:56:15 +0000

It's a cut&paste job. Here is a link to a picture of the (defunct) Dutch 250 guilder note.

By: Pix

Pix — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:43:16 +0000

Aesthetics apart, the main practical drawback of the new British coins is the fact that they don’t have any numerals on them.

By: Another Damned Medievalist

Another Damned Medievalist — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:02 +0000

I love the new British coins. But then, I like all the fun shapes and am quite happy to deal with them. Still have trouble with Euros, though.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:06:57 +0000

“What is with the little yellow “O5”s? Why are they all on one side, in contrast with the new designs of the 10 and 20?”

Like you said, it’s part of a system to allow photocopiers to detect them and prevent copying. Laserprinters too. There’s a similar design on most of the Euro notes—that is, a series of circles with a similar distribution.

By: glenn

glenn — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 08:46:11 +0000

I assume they got a good deal on the purple dye. Why else use it?

By: richard

richard — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:29:28 +0000

the world’s best-looking currency, on the other hand, is the antarctican dollar. Especially the 10A$, which bears the quote from Scott: “great God, this is an awful place…”
http://www.bankofantarctica.com/currentissues.php

By: The Modesto Kid

The Modesto Kid — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:15:40 +0000

I’m pretty sure this innovation is intended to remedy the deficit of green-and-purple caused by Fafblog’s recent redesign.

By: sara

sara — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:57:32 +0000

What is with the little yellow “O5”s? Why are they all on one side, in contrast with the new designs of the 10 and 20?

This Wikipedia article claims that the small yellow numbers (the zeroes are the important feature) are intended to block photocopying.

Has anyone tried this? And what happens? Does the photocopier just shut down, or does the Treasury Depertment send a SWAT team to arrest you for intended counterfeiting?

By: russ

russ — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:00:03 +0000

That stupid cashier, right Steve? Think she was even educated?

By: Jacob T. Levy

Jacob T. Levy — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:23:55 +0000

As an American who’s lived a fair bit of his adult life out of the U.S., I was always aware that “other countries’ money = multicolored money = unserious play money” was an irrational prejudice on my part, and that the uniform greenback bills I grew up with weren’t actually any more serious than the things in my wallet, but I couldn’t quite shake the prejudice.

Seeing the sawback replaced with a Grimace-back has broken me of that prejudice once and for all, at least in the following way: now instead of being an American chauvinist, I can only be an American nostalgist, pining for the serious money of my youth.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:38:39 +0000

On heating to around 100 - 120C the notes shrink dramatically. I wonder if this is considered inflation or deflation?

By: david tiley

david tiley — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 10:59:37 +0000

Now this is money, and our great scientists designed it and we make more out of selling the technology.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:19:16 +0000

Agreed with Mike on the £2 coin and “Standing on the shoulders of giatns”. It’s aways a treat to get one of these back with your change. It’s also handy that you can use a small handful of them to buy a house in the US.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:49:45 +0000

But the Brits haven’t updated the £2 coin.

That’s because it’s perfect just as it is.

I’m especially fond of the one with the astronomy/physics theme, with the phrase ‘Standing on the shoulders of giants’ inscribed around the circumference.

By: Joshua Holmes

Joshua Holmes — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 03:16:24 +0000

Well, the dollar soon won’t be worth anything, so it might as well start to look the part of funny money.