Mark Dominus19h ago
In 1996, tired of squabbling between EU countries about whose favorite person or building should be on the EU banknotes, the currency commission held a competition for a new design: “The ground rules for the design strictly prohibited displaying any recognizable national monuments or heroes that risked giving greater prominence to one country over another.” The winning design was a series of bridges that were stylistically typical of different kinds of European bridges, but which weren't any specific bridges. For example:
Show threadMark Dominus19h ago

Then in 2011 those trolls the Dutch built seven bridges in one town that were all designed to look exactly like the imaginary banknote bridges. They even painted the bridges the same colors as the banknotes.

So now the EU banknotes depict the bridges of Spijkenisse, South Holland. (pop. 72,500)

Show threadmeowki18h ago

@mjd They should hire this firm lol:

https://www.snohetta.com/projects/norway-s-new-banknotes

Norways new banknotes

The beauty of boundaries

Show threadAdam Trickett  

@meowki @mjd They are different but how good are their anti-counterfeiting measures?

Historically British banknotes have had two people on them, the reigning monarch on one side and someone dead but famous on the other side.

Back in 1990 when a few series was introduced they increased the size of the face and reduced the body, as they claimed that people were very good at spotting forged banknotes because people were good with faces.

Apr 6 at 4:51pmWeb
Show threadMark Dominus17h ago

@drajt @meowki As I recall the U.S. Treasury enlarged the portraits on the obverse of the U.S. banknotes for the same reason.

I can't imagine that the Norwegian currency authority was unaware of this or made an uninformed decision.

Show threadBonkers2h ago
@mjd @drajt @meowki they're still in the same color for different nominations. Back in the 90's I was scammed by a currency exchange crook on the street, as I got $1 instead of $100, and they used excellent tactics to distract my mind. I learned about practical psychology a lot on that day :)
Show threadAdam Trickett  2h ago

@bonkers @mjd @meowki yes when I lived in the US I found dollars very primitive and easy to mix up compared with Sterling which was colour coded and each note was a different size.

I believe the US dollar is often the most forged currency in the world, because it's widely used outside its own borders, there are a lot of them about and compared with Euro or Sterling the anti forgery features have lagged - though the more recent ones may be a lot better.

Show threadmeowki16h ago
@drajt @mjd No idea. 🤷‍♂️
Show threadStewart Tolhurst2h ago
@drajt @meowki @mjd By historically you mean since the 1960s right?
Show threadAdam Trickett  2h ago
@foxbasealpha @meowki @mjd indeed, 1963 when the queen was on one side and Britannia on the other. Though notes only had two sides and colour after 1957 with the Series B.
Show threadStewart Tolhurst37m ago
@drajt @meowki @mjd The whole furore about replacing historical figures with wildlife is so bogus! Historical figures weren’t introduced until the 70s…. I’m really looking forward to seeing the wildlife designs.
Show threadWouter Lindenhof2h ago

@drajt @meowki @mjd

Dutch money had quite a few different counterfeit measures. Most bills were too expensive to recreate (even if only half of the counterfeit measures were recreated) while the larger bills were generally refused. As such it was not an interesting target for criminals.