Posted 06/29/2013 09:55 am
Depends. ;) The first series (which says "© 2002") had different "code" letters for the national central bank (NCB) commissioning the production of a note, and for the printer. For example, a note commissioned by the Deutsche Bundesbank would have an "X" as the first character of the serial number, and a printer code that starts with "R" (Bundesdruckerei), "G" (Joh. Enschedé), "P" (Giesecke & Devrient), etc.
With the Europa notes, the two initial letters - of the serial number and the printer code - are identical, and refer to where the note was printed. So you can no longer tell from the serial number which NCB commissioned the production (but they have been using some "pooling" system for about ten years anyway). If a printer has more than one location/facility, you can now tell where the note was printed; that has not been possible before.
In the list in the initial post, PWPW (Poland) is new. Setec (Finland) is gone; they do not print money any more. So if we look at the printer codes that I just mentioned, the Bundesdruckerei still has the "R"; Enschedé now has the "P" (which for the first series was the bank code of the Dutch central bank), and G&D now uses "W" and "X" depending on the location (instead of "P").
The fiver was the first denomination to be updated; the others will follow later, in ascending order (€10, €20, etc.) Somewhere I read that each year one denomination gets the new "Europa" look, but I am not sure about that schedule ...
Christian
With the Europa notes, the two initial letters - of the serial number and the printer code - are identical, and refer to where the note was printed. So you can no longer tell from the serial number which NCB commissioned the production (but they have been using some "pooling" system for about ten years anyway). If a printer has more than one location/facility, you can now tell where the note was printed; that has not been possible before.
In the list in the initial post, PWPW (Poland) is new. Setec (Finland) is gone; they do not print money any more. So if we look at the printer codes that I just mentioned, the Bundesdruckerei still has the "R"; Enschedé now has the "P" (which for the first series was the bank code of the Dutch central bank), and G&D now uses "W" and "X" depending on the location (instead of "P").
The fiver was the first denomination to be updated; the others will follow later, in ascending order (€10, €20, etc.) Somewhere I read that each year one denomination gets the new "Europa" look, but I am not sure about that schedule ...
Christian
