I’m in the middle of completely re-classifying my European collection. While doing this, I did recognize some very unique features of quite a few of those hundreds of banknotes .. Here are 9 of those unique features I found and what makes banknotes so special. I will have to see whether some of those uniqueness can be found in other continents or if I find new unique features.

1. The Belgium banknote is the only one I think I have with 2 values and 2 currencies (10 francs OR 2 belgas).

Belgium 10 francs - P122

2. This French 1802 local 20 francs is the only one which has the opening hours and holidays of the bank actually printed on the banknote.

20 Francs from Rouen , France - PS242

3. The 10’000 Mark is actually from the same exact date with 2 different sizes.

Germany - 1922 - P71

4. A lot of watermarks appear on both sides of banknotes, but this Greek 1000 Drachma actually has a complete girl mirrored on the two sides.

Greece - 1935 - P106

5. I like this Poland foreign exchange money which uses a fractional value. Although it is not the only fractional banknotes, its value of 0.01$ is quite funny.

PEKAO Foreign Exchange Certificates - 1979 - FX34

6. This 10’000 Lei from Romania is part of a series which has the left side of the banknote undulating like a wave.

Romania 100'000 Lei - 1945 - P58

7. A 1919 Russian banknote with text in Chinese, Arabic, English, French, Italian, Russian and German.

Russia - 1919 - P105

8. A set of 1990, 1991, 1992 banknotes from Yugoslavia with the same denomination but changing colors every year during the Yugoslav war.

Yugoslavia - P105 / P108 / P112

9. A current 20 Swiss Francs with micro-holes which, when shown against light, shows the value of the notes. As far as I know, these are the only notes in the world with the value perforated through the note

Switzerland - P68