TICKETS
GENERAL
Presentation
General
For the first time in the history of paper numismatics, collectors can find out (almost) everything about a banknote: not only its printer and the plate to which it belongs, but also its position on the sheet on which it was issued!
Will collectors one day be able to reconstitute complete sheets, as philatelists do with classic stamps, which are sufficiently well known that the position of each stamp in the sheet can be identified?
Certainly, since there are some for stamps...
We cannot recommend enough that enthusiasts keep an eye on the notes that pass through their hands and look out for all the new manufacturing plates, as well, of course, as the new printers. It seems prudent to keep the variants that are found, even if the notes are not new, as the early series have not been kept in quantity and should become difficult to find fairly quickly.
If you have any comments, questions or new information to send us, you can write to us at billets@amisdeleuro.org
The banknote is constantly in the news: in 2008, we saw the appearance of the first Slovenian banknote (a €20); we also learned that Luxembourg had been stripped of the 'R' that had been reserved for it (but which had never actually been used!).
Extensive scoring to determine what was printed (and by which printer) has enabled us to identify rare manufacturing plates.
Clearly, the situation can change unexpectedly, as entire programmes may have been held in reserve and released to the public without warning.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Euro notes do not have a national design like coins, but collecting them is no less exciting.
There are a number of factors that need to be taken into account to appreciate the incredible variety that euro notes offer in terms of collecting.
There are seven face values in all, which the European Central Bank (ECB) classifies as low face values [€5, €10, €20, €50] and high face values [€100, €200 and €500].
To begin with, each country that issues euro notes is represented by its country letter, at the beginning of the serial number on the reverse (on the map of Europe side). The following 12 letters are currently used for notes in circulation:
Table of country letters
|
Letter
|
Printer
|
|---|---|
|
H
|
Slovenia
|
|
L
|
Finland
|
|
M
|
Portugal
|
|
N
|
Austria
|
|
P
|
Netherlands
|
|
S
|
Italy
|
|
T
|
Ireland
|
|
U
|
France
|
|
V
|
Spain
|
|
X
|
Germany
|
|
Y
|
Greece
|
|
Z
|
Belgium
|
Additional letters have been reserved: E for Slovakia, F for Malta, G for Cyprus and banknotes issued by Luxembourg bear the letter of the country in which they are produced (ECB, 2009).
This code should not be confused with the printer's letter, which can be found on the front (its location varies for the different face values), at the beginning of the "short code *".
The following printers have been involved in the production of banknotes currently in circulation:
Table of letter printers
|
Letter
|
Printer
|
|---|---|
|
D
|
Setec Oy (Finnish)
|
|
E
|
F.C. Oberthur (French)
|
|
F
|
Österreichische Banknoten und Sicherheitsdruck (Austrian)
|
|
G
|
Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé (Dutch)
|
|
H
|
De La Rue (English)
|
|
J
|
Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (Italian)
|
|
K
|
Central Bank of Ireland (Irish)
|
|
L
|
Banque de France (French)
|
|
M
|
Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (Spanish)
|
|
N
|
Bank of Greece (Greek)
|
|
P
|
Giesecke & Devrient (German)
|
|
R
|
Bundesdruckerei (German)
|
|
T
|
National Bank of Belgium (Belgian)
|
|
T
|
Banco de Portugal (Portuguese)
|
Two other elements make up the "short code": the production plate number*, which indicates the print run to which a banknote belongs (e.g. 001), and the position of the banknote on the sheet*.
The "short code" can be broken down as follows:
Printer letter / plate number (3 digits) / position on printing sheet (one letter and one number)
Image: close-up of the short code on a 20 euro banknote printed by the Banque de France
The general trend is towards collections based on the combination of letter-pays/letter-printers/plates for one or more different denominations.
There are different signatures* on euro banknotes, representing the ECB Director in office at the time of printing. Except in the case of a thematic collection by signature, they are of little importance to collectors. In fact, a production plate is generally printed with a single signature, with a few rare exceptions. As far back as 2003, Michel Prieur advised that special attention should be paid to banknotes with the first signature, as these will become increasingly rare as banknote stocks are renewed.
Please note that the "2002" date on the banknotes is the copyright date of the design and should remain unchanged until the second range of banknotes is issued, scheduled for 2014.
European Central Bank (2009) - http://www.ecb.int/euro/banknotes/html/index.fr.html#main.
If you have any comments, questions or new information to send us, you can write to us at billets@amisdeleuro.org
READING KEYS
All €notes manufactured up to 1 November 2003 bear the signature of Dr Wim Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank until that date. The change of President to Jean-Claude Trichet led to a change in the signature on the €notes. The production of banknotes bearing Trichet's signature began shortly after he took office. Issued by the national central banks of the eurozone in the usual way, they are circulating alongside those bearing his predecessor's signature. Both categories of banknotes are, of course, equally valid.
Further exploration of the note reveals a series of letters and numbers of the type L010E1, i.e. one letter, three numbers, one letter, one number.
The first letter indicates the banknote printer. According to our records, the printers are D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, T and U.
The three numbers that follow indicate the manufacturing plate used for this banknote. We are at the beginning of the production of euro banknotes and most of the plates are numbered 001, 002... the highest number seen exceeds 050 (€20 France printed by the Banque de France). We list these "production plate numbers seen" in the tables by denomination. The series is sometimes interrupted or does not start at 001. It should be remembered that a large number of printed banknotes are kept unissued to meet unforeseen demand: it is likely that these missing production plates are simply kept in reserve.
The code ends with a letter and a number that indicate the position of the banknote on the sheet on which it was printed. The letter indicates the row in which the banknote is located and the number indicates the column.
This is the name we give to the numbers in the centre of the banknote's short code. For example, on a €5 note "L004F3", "L" is the printer, "F3" is the position of the note on the sheet and "004" indicates that the note comes from the fourth plate. These printing plates are replaced when they are worn or broken: it is therefore impossible to determine the quantities produced with each plate, or their rarity, without access to the archives or extremely meticulous tallying.
New bundles are good subjects for study: the notes are separated by precise multiples of a number. For example, in France, the banknotes in new bundles are separated by nines or multiples of nines.
In each new bundle, all the notes bear not only the same printer and series codes but also the same position number on the sheet, which is logical since several thicknesses of sheet are cut simultaneously.
This term is used to describe the forced movement of a large quantity of banknotes from the same plate between two national banks in different countries in order to make up for a sudden shortage of a certain denomination. Pooling concerns part or all of the production of a plate.
Shortages affecting a particular denomination at regional level will be offset by surplus stocks from another National Central Bank. The strategic stock is only used if unexpected demand for a denomination cannot be met by transfers of surplus logistical stocks.
The list of pooling sites in this section is relatively reliable, as we have established each note when the quantities of notes found were very large and taking into account the proximity of the countries.
We recalculated the size of the sheets by observing the highest letter/number pairs and, for each face, we give the maximum pairs found and the size deduced from each sheet of banknotes, following the "rows x columns" model, the short code being based on this representation.
The Bundesbank sells complete sheets of €5 (6 columns x 10 rows; 74 x 66 cm; marker €540), €10 (6 columns x 9 rows; 75 x 60 cm; marker €900) and €20 (5 columns x 9 rows; 68 x 65 cm; marker €1,470) banknotes with margins in hard cardboard boxes, without specifying the quantity offered for sale.
The Bundesbank's €5 and €10 banknote sheets have therefore escaped the cutting process. Be wary of all the "cut varieties" of German banknotes in these two denominations, as they are almost always sheet cuts made for fraudulent purposes, to fool collectors of counterfeit notes. See the excellent website http://www.billetfaute.com for more details. These "false" varieties, pairs or strips of uncut banknotes actually come from complete sheets. Their price should be considered as a good note to be reimbursed at face value and not as that of an exceptional variety.
We owe it to the Italian Walter Nasi (Catalogo Euro-unificado della carta-moneta italiana, 28th edition, an exceptional work on Italian banknotes, of course, but also a remarkable analysis of the origins of euro banknote designs) to discover not only that specimens of euro banknotes exist but also why they had remained unknown in France: the Banque de France does not produce any.
The specimens - normal banknotes marked SPÉCIMEN in oblique and red - bear S0000000007 type numbers, i.e. with the letter of the issuing country followed by zeros and a serial number. Specimens are numbered on the obverse in four digits and each denomination is issued by a country. These countries are: €5 Spain, €10 Germany, €20 Belgium, €50 Germany, €100 Italy, €200 Netherlands, €500 Italy. It is hard to understand why the Banque de France has not produced a single value, while Germany and Italy have each produced two. There is no doubt that these specimens will remain exceedingly rare among collectors and will one day be the jewels of collections. Walter Nasi quotes a price of €9,000 for a complete set of specimens.
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