July Postings 2014

1st July 2014
China - The Peoples' Republic of China. First for the month of July, it's time to do some catching up. Here I have posted the Chinese full sets of 1980 and 1990 reprints here. The 1980 comes in 9 denominations as full set and the 1990 reprints only have 4 notes. I have these notes in my collection for quite a while now but was missing the odd notes to complete the series. I have now managed to get them all and therefore updating here on my site accordingly. I always believe that if you can, get them in full set, unless there are rare and expensive. Despite having such a large population in China and many notes have to be printed to satisfy circulations demand, some of these are now getting a bit pricy. I  am correct to say that most serious collectors or collectors of East Asia bank notes would already have these notes in their collections.

4th July 2014
Isle of Man - Isle of Man Bank Limited Peter Mark Shimmin. I have added the £20 note signed by the Isle of Man Treasury Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Peter Mark Shimmin to my £1 note collection. To date only two notes, £1 and £20, bear the signature of P M Shimmin with banknotes printed with the promise to pay text to include the word "Limited" have been sighted. It is not sure if any of the £5 and £10 notes are also printed with the similar text. However two other notes, £10 and £20, were previously issued without the word "Limited". It should be noted that Peter Mark Shimmin is no longer the Chief Financial Officer of the Isle of Man Treasury. He was appointed to the CFO post in October 2002 and left in April 2003 (in all 10 years and 7 months). With such a small population (approx. 85,000+/-), any new notes issued tend to last for a very long time, especially for the higher denominations. The current IOM £50 was signed by William Dawson and was first issued in 1983, and this note is still circulating on the island. The current CFO of Isle of Man Treasury is Malcolm Couch.

5th July 2014
Jamaica - This is a new version of the Jamaica $50 Hybrid note released on 24.3.2014. The design of this note is the same as the previous $50 issued but with new appearance of the serial number on the top right corner. This serial number has a wave shape and the last 3 digits set against a blue background. This hybrid note was manufactured with a combination of protective polyester film layered around a cotton fiber core. The polyester film on the note makes it more durable. Whilst the cost for manufacturing such notes are more expensive, overall the bank expects to save substantially in the long run as the Hybrid banknote is expect to last at least 50% longer than the cotton based paper notes. In term of the appearance, this note is printed slightly difference from the previous issue as you can see the raised prints on both side of the note. This is the second Jamaican banknotes issued with protective polyester film layered around a cotton fiber core. The 2012 $100 commemorative note was also manufactured/printed with such technology. The new $50 note is dated 1.6.2013 and bears the signature of the bank's governor, Brian Wynter. Like the 2012 $100 commemorative Hybrid note, this note is also printed by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D). Jamaica has now issued Hybrid notes printed both by De La Rue (J$5,000) and Giesecke & Devrient.

11th July 2014
Scotland - The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). This is a RBS £20 note signed by the Bank's CEO Stephen Hester. This note is dated 23.06.2012 and is also the first reprint of the 2010 £20 issue. Like all previous reprints, the design of this note remains unchanged except that it has a new date imprinted on the note. This is also the only 2012 note issued (and sighted so far), apart from the 2012 £10 commemorative released celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. To date, only three denominations bearing the signature of Stephen Hester have been issued/sighted. Stephen Hester has since been replaced by Ross Maxwell McEwan who took over the CEO role as from 1.10.2013. The other denomination was the £5 note, first released with date 2008 and reprint date of 2010. I am wondering if the bank has printed more notes with Stephen Hester signature with new dates, yet to be released?

13th July 2014
Ethiopia - A full set of Ethiopia notes from One Birr to 100 Birr (in all 5 notes). Unfortunately these are not all printed in the same year. The dates printed on these notes are between 2006 and 2008. All notes bear the same signature. These are cheap notes acquired just for the sake of collecting. Collecting them in full set is always nice, especially if they were all printed and issued in a same year.

18th July 2014
Lebanon - Posted here is the new 50,000 Livres Polymer Commemorative note. This new 50,000 Livres commemorative polymer note was released on 15.05.2014 to celebrate the country’s central bank 50^thAnniversary 1964-2014 – Banque Du Liban. The bank was established on 1.8.1963 and became fully operational on 1.4.1964. The bank is currently headed by the Governor Raid Salameh who was appointed to the post since 1.8.1993 on a six year term basis. This is his third term serving as the Governor of the central bank. This 50000 Livres is the second polymer note issued by the bank. The previous 50,000 Livres was issued on 22.11.2013 celebrating the country's 70th year of Independence 1943-2013. Both the polymer notes issued were printed by De La Rue.

21st July 2014
Belgium - This is just an odd note of 100 Frank ND2001 that I have from Belgium. I bought this note a while ago. All Belgium Francs banknotes have since been replaced by the Euro.

25th July 2014
Philippines - 100 Piso 2013 Commemorative. 2014 marks the centennial anniversary of Shell companies in the Philippines. Shell first started it's business in the Philippines in 1914. Today, Shell companies operations include oil and gas exploration, production, oil refining, distribution and sales to consumer. Shell is one of the country's largest investors and employing staff in excess of 3,000 nationwide. I must say that it is strange to see a country issuing a banknote to celebrate a private entity achievement.