El Salvador Government decreed that after 1907 all issued banknotes should have a validation stamp with the text: TOMADO RAZON accompanied by the official seal and signature. Later issue, like this one only have the seal and signature. FRONT: Independence monument. BACK: Portrait of C Columbus.
This is the first and only example graded in the PMG Population Report. Many handwritten aspects of this banknote are seen on both sides, including serial numbers and a date. There is a signature penned on the back of this note that has obscured the date on the front of this note, but it appears to read 181(?) before being obscured. Importantly, this is a fully issued, uncancelled high denomination and perhaps the only example in this format extant. The watermark is fully visible on this handsome original. Additionally, the back security print at front is arched in shape, which would indicate that despite the Napoleonic War date printed, this note could have actually been issued in the 1840s up until 1860 or thereabouts. At front bottom is an oval bank stamp from Harlingen, Friesland. One of the rarest world banknotes.
FRONT: The front of the banknote features symbolic elements of the BNB: stylised elements from the BNB building, the BNB emblem, and other multi-coloured background nets of appropriate structures, vignettes, rosettes, analogous to the banknotes of the first BNB issues. BACK: The back of the banknote features a replica of the first Bulgarian banknote of BGN 20, issue 1885, the old BNB building, the sculpture image of a seated woman used for the banknotes of BGN 1 and 2, issue 1920, and the coat of arms of the Principality of Bulgaria.***Giro d'Italia starts today in Bulgaria***
FRONT: Jiří z Poděbrad, King of Bohemia 1458-1471.
BACK: Karlštejn Castle is a large Gothic castle in the Czech Republic, founded in 1348 by King Charles IV. It served as a place for safekeeping the Imperial Regalia as well as the Bohemian crown jewels, holy relics, and other royal treasures. Karlštejn is among the most famous and most frequently visited castles in the country.
FRONT**:** The Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha.
BACK**:** Queen Cleopatra, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and Ramses II in a war chariot.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the country found itself in an awkward monetary moment. Prices were rising quickly, but the Central Bank had not yet issued very high-denomination banknotes. Introducing new notes was not just a technical matter of design and printing; it carried political weight. Large denominations are read by the public as an admission that "inflation has become permanent". For that reason, approvals were cautious and often slow, involving both the central bank and Parliament, where there was reluctance to visibly normalize inflation by putting million-rial figures into everyday wallets.
Guaranteed cheques offered a quieter workaround. Issued by Bank Melli Iran and other banks, they were classified as banking instruments rather than legal-tender banknotes. This distinction mattered. A cheque could be framed as a practical tool for moving large sums—temporary, transactional, and reversible—rather than as a public statement about the currency itself. Designing them was not necessarily faster than engraving banknotes, but they required far fewer political approvals and avoided the symbolic moment of announcing a new denomination to the public. In practice, they filled the gap that official banknotes had not yet crossed.
Nearly 13m people are hoarding millions of dollars’ worth of the stylish 50 peso note, featuring Mexico’s cutest critter.
For most of her life, Gorda was just an axolotl who lived in a museum in Mexico City – that is, until she became the star of the country’s favourite banknote.
The note, which features a depiction of Gorda as the model for Mexico’s iconic species of salamander, went into circulation in 2021, dazzling the judges of the International Bank Notes Society, who declared it the Note of the Year.
Four years later, the Bank of Mexico has released a report revealing that 12.9 million Mexicans are holding on to this note as if it were worth more than just its value of 50 pesos, or a little under $3. Indeed, millions of them are hoarding more than one.
FRONT: Portrait of Kinnosuke Natsume (author)
BACK: Two Manchurian cranes spreading their wings, logo of the Bank of Japan at left.
