Polymer Banknotes

[Bimat]

Not only Australia,but other countries like Guatemala,Singapore,Malaysia,Thailand,Taiwan have issued polymer banknotes.Production of polymer banknotes is costlier than the production of paper money,I guess.

There is a rumor that India will be introducing its first polymer banknote soon

Aditya

[BC Numismatics]

Phil,
  There is a British polymer plastic banknote - Northern Bank's Millennium commemorative 5 Quid note from Ulster (Northern Ireland).

Aditya,it would be cool if India does decide to issue polymer banknotes,then it can follow in the footsteps of both Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.

I reckon it would be cool if the Eurozone does go over to issuing polymer notes.I would love to have some plastic 5 Euro notes from Cyprus,Ireland,& Malta in my collection.

Aidan.

[chrisild]

Production of polymer banknotes is costlier than the production of paper money,I guess.

Also because the technology used for today's polymer notes would have to be licensed from Australia (RBA/Securency). By the way, a few years ago Bulgaria issued a 20 leva note (commemorative, I think) which is an interesting mix: The note is made from security paper but has a polymer strip.

Christian

[Bimat]

Aditya,it would be cool if India does decide to issue polymer banknotes,then it can follow in the footsteps of both Sri Lanka & Bangladesh.

Aidan,
The word soon is not well defined (especially in case of India ) You may have to wait for a month,a year,a decade or even a millennium. As I said,it's a rumor,and I am not expecting polymer banknotes in India at-least for next 10 years But,a new series of banknotes with better security features is being introduced these days.There is no design change,though.

Aditya

[chrisild]

They are more welcome in areas with a warm humid climate, I suppose. And as I wrote, you would either have to get a license from Australia or develop your own "plastic" notes. The PE (Tyvek, etc.) notes, for example, were not that great from what I have read ...

Christian

[BC Numismatics]

Christian,
  Zambia has been issuing plastic notes for a few years now,but their notes are not printed in Australia at all,but they are printed in Canada though.

Aidan.

[chrisild]

Zambia has been issuing plastic notes for a few years now,but their notes are not printed in Australia at all,but they are printed in Canada though.

Right, those notes were printed in Canada, using Securency's material.

http://www.securency.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=40&lang=en
http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/RBAAnnualReports/2006/Html/npa_sec.html

Note the comment "For both (b) and (c), Securency exported polymer substrate for printing the denominations shown" at the bottom of that second page.

Christian

[chrisild]

Bah! Plastic is plastic. Metal is metal. Who needs a licence to mint metal coins?

Ummm, Europe for example.

If you decide to make your own coins and use Nordic Gold for them (which is what we use for our 10, 20, and 50 cent coins), you may want to contact this company http://www.outokumpu.com/ first. Or else you will hear from their lawyers.   Oh, and the "sandwich" structure of the €1 coins is called Magnimat. Want to use it? Ask http://www.thyssenkrupp.com/ first ...

Not that I am against polymer money; when I was in Mexico, I first thought those $20 notes felt strange, but after a short while I liked them. I'm just saying that, if you want to make such notes, you have several options: use Securency's technology, or develop something else.

Christian

[Bimat]

Well,here are some more countries which have issued polymer banknotes:
Quatar,Israel,Papua New Gunea,Haiti,Isle of Man,Bulgaria,Fiji,Kazakastan,Latvia,Costa Rica,Vietnam,Thailand,Singapore,Solomons Islands,Sri-LankaSamoa,Romania,Nigeria,Chile,Brunei,Brazil,Indonesia,Malaysia,Kuwait,Mexico,China,Bangladesh,Nepal...
Galapagos Islands have recently issued a (Pseudo) polymer banknote.

I have a nice example of Nepal 10 Rupees banknote.

I am extremely fascinated by this huge list.May be,I'll start collecting polymer banknotes now.

Aditya

[BC Numismatics]

Aditya,
  Nicaragua has also issued polymer notes as well.

Have a look here; http://www.banknotenews.com .

Aidan.

[translateltd]

Ummm, Europe for example.

If you decide to make your own coins and use Nordic Gold for them (which is what we use for our 10, 20, and 50 cent coins), you may want to contact this company http://www.outokumpu.com/ first. Or else you will hear from their lawyers.   Oh, and the "sandwich" structure of the €1 coins is called Magnimat. Want to use it? Ask http://www.thyssenkrupp.com/ first ...

Not that I am against polymer money; when I was in Mexico, I first thought those $20 notes felt strange, but after a short while I liked them. I'm just saying that, if you want to make such notes, you have several options: use Securency's technology, or develop something else.

Christian

New Zealand's new minor coins are also made of a copyrighted material, one that has to be licensed from Canada for use, which causes some complications when our "mint sets" are being produced somewhere else.  We currently have three mints involved in our coinage production - Canada to supply or license (not sure which) blanks, one mint to strike the circulating coins and another to do the mint sets ...

And our banknotes are all polymer now.

[Bimat]

Even if India issues polymer banknotes,it won't be so useful because we Indians handle these banknotes very badly. No doubt that its life will be increased,but considering its production cost,it won't be a worth issue.

[Bimat]

Here is an article with full story of polymer banknotes...

[BC Numismatics]

Aditya,
  Here's another link; http://www.coinnetwork.com/group/worldpolymerplasticbanknotecollectors ,which will be right up your street,as it were.

Aidan.