TITS BITS OF CURRENCY

• Serge Beaure, a French engineer had invented multi colour Intaglio.
• French Paper Mill at Vic-le-compte - It produces probably the thinnest Bank note Paper available.  It is also the most expensive and wears out a bit more quickly than most.  But it does have a very satisfactory Gallic rattle when new.  The paper is made of cotton, linen and ramie fibre.
• Finnish ten-mark coin designed by sculptor Antti Neuvonen has been chosen  the most beautiful coin in circulation in the world.
• In 1970, Netherlands introduced tactile dots, an indication of value for the physically impaired.  This was the first introduction of the blind marks on the bank notes.
• In 1990, Netherlands was the first country to introduce bar code in the bank notes.  A special decoder can read this code.  Under the bar code, small individual code numbers are printed.  This was designed by Bram de Does.
• Effective security is no guarantee of artistic satisfaction.  In 1926, when Netherlands brought a twenty-guilder note with 28 modest rosettes, the Press slated it as "negotiable wall paper".  "The Universal rose engine" , the guilloche machine was destined ultimately to lose the battle for survival to the computer.
• The average life of Canadian Notes was found to be around 10 months for the lower denominations of 2, 5 and 10 dollars; about 1½ years for 20 dollar notes, 3 years for 50 dollars and 6 years for 100 dollars.
• A paper money and design museum is open for public in London.  Japan also opened Bank note Museum for public.
• For detecting the hidden watermarks, which have gone obscure due to printing over them, the Bank of Netherlands developed Aqua watermark reading system.
• The Bank of Netherlands developed a detector system to find out the presence of Intaglio on the bank notes. The machine is called as the Intaglio scanning and recognition device (ISARD), which uses reflected light to check for the presence of Intaglio printing on the bank note.

De La Rue Giori- The Premium name in banknote industry

"Organisation Giori" became the first company in the world to design, produce and supply machinery and specialised equipment for printing bank notes and security documents. Gualtiero Giori was associated with the Italian Security Printers, Milan. 

 

The company was established in the 19^th century.  Gualitiero Giori, was the first to develop and sell the revolutionary 6-colour intaglio printing press in 1947.  In 1952, Organisation Giori signed a co-operation agreement with Koenig and Bauer in Wurzburg, Germany.  This company was founded in 1817. It is the oldest manufacturing unit for printing machines.  The production of Giori machines was subsequently entrusted to Koenig & Bauer and the co-operation between the 2 companies has grown into a close and efficient bond. 

 

In 1965, Organisation Giori entered into a partner-ship with the De La Rue group, a company founded in 1813, which owns the world's largest facilities for printing bank notes and security documents.  A new company De La Rue Giori, SA was formed in which the 2 partners combined their expertise to offer customers a full range of services in the field of bank note and security printing. 

 

It is a limited company operating under Swiss legislation, with its head quarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The range of equipment manufactured and supplied by De La Rue Giori, SA include the equipment for origination (pre-printing), Offset, Intaglio, Auto inspection, Numbering, Finishing and spoil destruction. It provides complete supporting services to enable its customers to achieve and maintain autonomy in printing plants producing bank notes and other security documents.  They have 2 Training and Research centres at Le Mont and Sevelin near Lausanne, Switzerland.  The De La Rue Giori of America Research and Development centre for advanced technology is located in Sunnyvale, California.  On request, they design bank notes including origination and proofing as well as the production of printing plates.  They advise on the recruitment of qualified personnel.  Bank notes manufactured on De La Rue machines circulate in virtually every country in the world. 

New Symbol of Rupee

The Indian rupee will soon have a unique symbol, a blend of the Devanagri `Ra` and Roman `R` , joining elite currencies like the US dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity.

The new symbol, designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar, was approved by the cabinet reflecting that the Indian currency, backed by an over-trillion dollar economy, was finally making its presence felt on the international scene.

Though the symbol will not be printed or embossed on currency notes or coins, it would be included in the `Unicode Standard` and major scripts of the world to ensure that it is easily displayed and printed in the electronic and print media.

Among currencies with distinctive identities, only the pound sterling has its symbol printed on the notes.

Unicode is an international standard that allows text data to be interchanged globally without conflict. After incorporation in the global and Indian codes, the symbol would be used by all individuals and entities within and outside the country.

The symbol will be adopted in a span of six months in the country, and within 18 to 24 months globally,and it will feature on computer keyboards and softwares for worldwide use.

The symbol, which reflects the Indian ethos and culture, would help distinguish the currency from the rupee or rupiah of other countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

State governments would be asked to proactively promote the use of the new symbol.

Kumar`s entry was chosen from 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol. He will get an award of Rs 2.5 lakh.

"It is a perfect blend of Indian and Roman letters, capital `R` and Devanagri `Ra` which represents rupaiah, to appeal to international and Indian audiences.. My design is based on the tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between," a visibly-happy Kumar said.

The jury, which had sent the five short-listed entries for the cabinet`s approval, was headed by a Reserve Bank Deputy Governor.