Before I traveled outside of the U.S., I never paid much attention to the way the dollar bills in my wallet looked. I received them, counted them, spent them and sometimes tried to make origami with them. Other than this, they were just plain old green dollar bills to me.
It wasn’t until I visited Germany a few years ago that I realized just how ugly U.S. currency is. When I traded in my dollars for euros at the airport, I couldn’t stop staring at the bills that were handed back to me. They were so…
pretty. My new euros didn’t even feel like real money, just colorful pieces of paper. I hated parting with them, but I had them, after all, to spend.
I mention my appreciation for artful currency because I recently found
this article called, “12 Beautiful Bills.” I personally think the euro should have made this list, but nevertheless, it’s very interesting to look at all of the bills and read some history about them.
What world currency do you think is the most beautiful?
Comments (19)
Most currencies have something interesting but usually the coins are better than the paper money. I have kept a few of every place to which I've been.
HK bills! some of them have see through parts now! and even the coins are interesting, with wavy $5 coins and 10c coins
By far the best looking currency i have seen is the Swiss Franc. It's amazing.
the real beauty of Aussie money is you can swim with it in your pocket!
£
I agree, American money is really ugly. The other thing that really bothers me about American money is that all the bills are the same size, which would make it difficult for a visually impaired person so know how much money he or she had.
My two favourite currencies are the British pound and the Swiss Franc. I also really like Scottish pound notes (same value as the British pound, just different pictures).
Have you seen the Vietnamese or Cambodia currency? Those intricate filigree designs are so beautiful!
We do have ugly money.
Probably because it's all the same ugly color.
But anyway, I have only really seen two types of currency.
I thought Dominican pesos were pretty.
And Bermuda money is STUNNING.
pound!
Haha, when I was in Amsterdam I found myself in a conversation with a german, brit, canadian, and dutchie, and somehow they got on the topic of american money. "its like green toilet paper - ha ha ha ha" "play money from the uncreative version of monopoly!" "garbage dump dollars!"
..they went on for quite awhile with their not particularly witty slams. "You guys, its not THAT bad.." I of course defended my country. . . but after doing some more travel, no, it is, what the heck, why is america so uncreative...
my favorite so far is probably the british pound... some of their bills are so cute! it looks like a really sweet ad from urban outfitters or something, only centering around the queen.
I have worked in foreign currency exchange for over 12 years. I liked the New 10 Guilder note. It displays great artistic features and angles. It replaced the previous issue illustrating Frans Hals. Along with the 25, 50, 100, 250, and 1,000, these are my favorites.
Note worthy: This is one of the few currencies to have issued a 25 denominated note.
Great post!
Noe
International Currency Express, Inc.
$. can somebody tell me the highest currency of money? Thanks it is much appreciated.
@black_lie@xanga - The Malaysian Ringgit note has the same one, the RM5 note anyway haha
http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/imageserver.x/00000000/kashiwa/.mids/Malaysia5_P47_Po.jpg
The black part is where the see-through part is at. I'm surprised the RM5 note didn't make it on that list. Oh and American money is definitely a hard one to handle... I need a longer wallet just to comfortably fit the notes.
Also, my favourite coin is the British pence :)
@killthoseclowns@xanga - wow that's cool!
haha it's true about american notes.. my family used to keep buying me wallets from china and other places and i never used a single one of them because they were too small! i never thought about it the other way around - the bills are too big!
I LOVE Euros and Vietnamese dongs. The filmy colorful type paper is so beautiful. even Euro coins are beautiful.
malaysian ringget are pretty!
i dont like saudi's currency..its pretty much like amercian dollars..but more like dull brown gray..
Canadian dollars or Euros!
They're both so colourful and the designs vary. With Euros I like that the size of every bill is different; makes it easier to tell them apart when they're floating around in your purse haha
new zealand dollars