THE ‘EUROPA SERIES’ might sound like some kind of second-tier football tournament, but it’s actually the name the ECB’s new range of banknotes that are replacing those currently in your pockets.
The new fiver is already in circulation but on 23 September, central banks around Europe will start releasing every student’s favourite note, the tenner.
What does it look like? Well, to be honest, it looks quite like a tenner, except with a deeper shade of red. Is the EU reflecting today’s bleak economic climate with a darker colour? Almost certainly not, but it tallies with the new fiver which is also greyer than its 2001 incarnation.
Something you might notice about the new series of notes is a rather unhappy looking lady in the metallic strip on the right and on the blank part (labelled no. 5 above) on the left of the note.
That is in fact the figure from Greek mythology from which our continent is named, Europa.
As you can see Europa is depicted wearing a nice necklace, something which in ancient Greece would represent a high standing in society. It does and Europa was of high lineage, but she was in fact abducted by Zeus.
Europa is only visible as a hologram when tilted to the side, one of the security features of the new note.
The ECB is at pains to point out that the new €10 note is much harder to counterfeit than its predecessor and is different in look, feel and in security features.
Some of these features also include certain areas of microprint that can only be read under a magnifying glass. The note is also resistant to UV light, the paper itself does not glow.
Here are the old and new side by side. What do you think?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say