Celebrating famous personalities and political figures on banknotes is now old style. Instead, the new line of Swiss currency notes romanticizes butterflies, the sun, snow crystals, and the spirit of adventure! With the theme for this series being “The Many Facets of Switzerland”, each note is based on individual concepts, which are light, time, wind, matter, water and language.
The notes each have unique and beautiful illustrations in them.
- The 50-franc bill shows a mountain landscape with hikers on one side and the Sun on the other
- Skiers whooshing down a race course, zigzagging between obstacles on the 10-franc bill.
- The Big Bang Theory and the Large Hadron Collider a masterpiece of technology and innovation is depicted on the 200-franc bill.
- Other illustrations are that of butterflies, graph lines, and snow crystals.
This 9th series of banknotes was to be out by 2010 but due to a delay uncharacteristic of the Swiss, who are world-renowned for their clockwork efficiency and excellent banking system, the release date was pushed a further 6 years. Apparently this was caused by the complex security features embedded in the notes for restricting counterfeiting! The paper supplier had technical difficulties in producing paper of the quality required to incorporate the safety features.
To combat the problem of counterfeiting, the 50 CHF has 15 unique security details. These consist of:
- Ink that is shimmery,
- Threads in the note which are glittery,
- Window cut-outs,
- Ultraviolet elements
The note has a 3-layer structure of cotton and polymer making it very durable. They are designed to last at least 15 years.
Some interesting facts about Swiss banknotes:
- Do not Judge a currency by its name. The Swiss Franc is not only the national currency for Switzerland but also for its neighbouring country Liechtenstein.
- Did you know? Switzerland has four national languages all of which feature in its bank notes : German, Romansh, French, and Italian.
- The Swiss Franc is known by 6 other names too : Swissie, Thune, Amiese, Frankler, Stutz, and Liber.
- Swiss banknotes have a very good track record against counterfeiting than euros, US dollars or the British pound. The statistics are 1 in 100’000 Swiss bills is counterfeit, whereas for Euros it is 1 in 20’000, for US Dollar 1 in 10’000 and for British Pound, 1 in 3333.
- The 1000-franc note is the banknote with the most value still being printed. Even though there are USD 10’000 bills in existence and being circulated, they are no longer being printed. Singapore has a 10000 dollar bill worth about 7500 francs.
Image Source: swissinfo.ch
The most favourite note of the series for the designer Manuela Pfrunder is the 50 franc note. She says that the note tells the story of the wind. It implies that Switzerland is not just in permanent motion but also engenders movement. The front side of the note has small arrows indicating the zones and various directions of the wind. Another feature she has embedded into the design is a microtext containing the list of peaks in Switzerland which are above 4000 metres which may be viewed clearly through a magnifying glass.
Also Read: 20 Weird Banknotes With Bizarre Backstories
Subhash is the head of content at Extravelmoney.com. Subhash’s contributions to content involve demystifying complex financial topics like currency exchange and international money transfers, making them accessible and engaging for a wide audience. His efforts are integral to ExTravelMoney’s mission of providing transparent and convenient financial solutions.