Recently changed some UK £20 banknotes and received, mostly €50 banknotes from exchange bureau, and the front of one of them is different from the rest. On investigation, its allocated to Malta, but wondering if there is any rarity value in it, which is highly unlikely, but thought I would ask you clever people.
I haven't seen a 2002 Draghi 50 Euro note printed with the “F” prefix so I would imagine it is uncommon. When checking how tough a Euro note is, the first place I turn to are the First Series Printer tables generated by:
The note in question was printed in Germany (R printer) & had 5491 Euro Bill trackers report it. The highest # is 3,268,446 (X-Germany) & lowest # is 18 (Y-Greece). That 5000 figure is a little above the G prefix (Cyprus) prefix at 5026. Most notes from Cyprus have commanded a premium (when I have seen them for sale) so I imagine that the same would hold true for your Malta note. “F” is also more uncommon prefix than the same denomination issued from Estonia (D prefix). However, my observations go for 20 Euros (or below) b/c I don't collect 50's.
The other 2 factors that will make it collectible (condition & demand) should be considered before you hang onto it. I usually hang onto tough prefixes that are problem-free VF (or better) but I must admit I have many & seldom sell them (close to FV -especially the higher the denomination).
Sorry if this is off topic, but is there any webpage where I can find the explanation of the numbering system of Europa series banknotes? (which numbers actually describe the order in which baknotes were printed, which are just there for security purposes etc.). The Euro bill tracker does not really explain it and the paper catalogues I checked only explain the numbering system for 2002 series.
You have your printercode prefix and the, let's call it ‘series’ prefix then ten control numbers.
XA 0000000000 - Giesecke & Devrient Munich, first set of banknnotes XB 0000000000 - Giesecke & Devrient Munich, second set of banknnotes after the first serial number overflow etc.
Thank you, but I rather meant the more detailed explanation of the ten control numbers. From what I understood, it is not as simple that XA 111 111 1112 (for instance) is printed just after XA 111 111 1111 and some digits should have other meaning than just the sequence in which banknotes were printed. However, I didn't find any detailed explanation of this system so far (if there is any of course).
Sorry if I created a confusion with my earlier question. Just the last one for the clarification-is the checksum system (or a similar control mechanism) still used for the Europa series banknotes?
I'm not surprised at all. I got interested in collecting the Euro after a 2005 visit to Ireland. The design didn't do anything for me but I found the odd Duisenberg note in really rough/ratty shape (everything was Trichet by that time). So when I got back to Canada, I actively sought any Duisenberg Euro (5-20) I could buy at a decent price. However, I rarely saw UNC Duisenberg offered (mostly Trichet & Draghi or circulated) so just trying to get a few UNC examples became a real challenge. I followed the EuroBillTracker site but lost interest in trying to get notes from any of the tougher nations (tougher prefixes).
By the time the first signature variations were being offered, they were listed in a "king's ransom" (IMO: way too dear) so it became a bit of a turn off & I just abandoned the early Euro pursuit. The more reasonable priced Duisenberg Euros were printed in Germany (X), France (U), Italy (S) or Netherlands (P) (for 5-20 Euros). I even found “Trichet” versions to be pricey considering their lengthy release & started to look for pre-Euro (which had much nicer designs).
