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How To Find What Country A Euro Note Is From
With Greece once again said to be on the verge of exiting the Eurozone, where it has been on and off for the past five years, a move which would demonstrate that an "irreversible" currency is very much reversible and just what happens when Mario Draghi runs out of other people's "political capital", here a reminder that despite Europe's common currency, some European bank notes are more equal than others, courtesy of a post that was written over three years ago. Because sadly, despite all-time record market highs, nothing has changed in over 1000 days of so-called progress.
From This is Money:
How to find out what country a euro note is from
As forecasts hit fever pitch of Greece being bundled out of the euro, there was bound to be plenty of wild speculation – and a snippet doing the rounds is that holidaymakers should be worried about holding Greek euro notes.
Travel firm DialaFlight even posted a blog, swiftly removed, making some fairly bold claims about whether Greek euro notes would prove worthless if the troubled nation fell out of the currency.
It asked: 'Will other members of the Eurozone accept them? If not anyone holding Greek Euros may find themselves out of pocket.'
‘Greek euro notes,’ I hear you cry. ‘But surely the whole point – of this euro experiment was that everybody has exactly the same money?’
And that is true. The euro is a common currency, entirely equal across all nations, and while it is printed in individual member countries, wherever your note comes from the design is exactly the same.
But while the Eurocrats would have you believe that each of those notes is absolutely equal, there is one tiny crucial difference that lets you see where they come from. That involves a little-known trick I learnt about a few years ago.
Every euro note has a serial number on it. And at the start of that serial number is a prefix (usually a letter) - and this is what tells you where it is from.
Where do my euros come from? The code breaker
Star pupil German notes begin with an X, while bottom-of-the class Greek notes start with a Y. (It it ironic these letters correspond with the two determining chromosomes?)
Spain is V, France U, Ireland T, Portugal M and Italy S. Belgium is Z, Cyprus G, Luxembourg 1, Malta F, Netherlands P, Austria N, Slovenia H, Slovakia E and Finland L.
But there is a crucial point for anyone considering being swept up by talk of Greek euro notes proving to be duds, if it falls out of the common currency.
While we don’t know what will happen if a country drops out, as cunningly the euro experiment architects didn’t build in an exit strategy, we can be fairly certain it won’t involve a small army of Eurocrats marching around, checking the letters on your banknotes and taking them off you.
Beyond the fact that this is completely impractical, that's because notes from different countries end up all over the place.
Some quick pocket surveys conducted by This is Money readers when I first wrote about how to work out where your euro note came from revealed the extent.
One reader on the furthest westerly reaches of the Eurozone in Ireland had the following: 5 German, and one each of Greek, Belgian and Irish.
Another, in Greece, had four notes out of a Greek cash machine that read like the start of a bad joke: Two Germans, a Belgian and an Italian.
Meanwhile, we also conducted another test today in the This is Money office. Richard Browning has luckily just bought €130 from our very own Arthur Daley, Ed Monk, on his return from an Italian holiday.
He has five Dutch notes, a Slovakian, a French note and a German.
Clearly, there are going to be a lot of Europeans and businesses out there, with assets that have no link with Greece, but a stash of notes with a Y on them.
If Greece does head back to the drachma, one way to make a bad situation worse would be to start randomly cancelling those notes – that makes it highly unlikely to happen.
In reality, no one knows what will take place. Mainly because the Eurozone authorities seem to have decided that even admitting the possibility that a ten-year-old currency experiment could fail in some way, would be tantamount to triggering its decline.
That’s unfortunate for Greece, but fortunate for those who love a bit of spurious speculation.
The best guess is that euro notes would remain as they are, and in order to iron out any problems with money supply, some would be gradually withdrawn. That would most likely mean any Greek holding euro in cash and able to get them out of the country would still be able to spend them.
Where they would be hit is in their assets. Savings, investments, property values and all the important things that make up their wealth, would somehow be transferred back into drachma (most probably) and greatly devalued compared to their previous euro status.
So, those checking their pockets and finding a Greek Y in there should have no need to panic, unless they’re playing euro Top Trumps, of course.
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Have 5 euro, keeping it for my children, for educatinal purposes, ti teach them fiat money and hyperinflation.
Greece should print with an X, it's only fair.
What difference does it make? (They'll all be either in the trash or being burnt for heat anyway....)
When "R", Euro note is printing in Russia. Boris' cousin Ivan is run press in basement of abandon boot and shoe factory.
I'm saving bottle caps. The Fallout games can't be too far of the mark.
There is no way on earth that they will segregate the hard currency by country of origin.
That would create huge fissures within their system, such as FX rates emerging for the various national notes. The Germans are simply not that stupid.
The ECB must maintain pari passu for all bank notes otherwise there will be huge capital flows as people wire money out of the periphery to avoid lucky dip at the ATM.
If Greece leave the eurozone there will be a period of dual currency, just as there was when the euro was introduced. It will not be the euro that changes first, Grexit will be signalled by the resurrection of the Drachma.
So what exactly would happen to any paper Euros with greek denomination after a Grexit ? Would they have any value ? That then goes onto asking the question what about portuguese , Italian and Spanish paper notes ? Would German notes carry a premium ? This is going to get fucking hilarious ..........
They are all euros, it doesn't matter what the serial number is. They are all pari passu, both now, and after any Grexit.
Grexit doesn't mean that euro's in Greece will no longer be legal tender in the eurozone. They will maintain their values as pari passu euros.
If you take USD out of USA do they cease to be "valid"? No, they are still USD. So if Texas left the USA would all the USD in Texas cease to be legal tender in USA? No, the USD would still be USD, it might become FX reserves. Plenty of countries use USD as their currency even though they have no monetary control over it.
The euros of all national serial numbers are entirely comingled across the entire continent. It's not like the Greek bank notes know they are Greek and stay in Greece. If you go to an ATM anywhere in Europe you are just as likely to get German, Spanish, Greek, French notes as they all move around inside (and outside) of the monetary block. There is free movement of people, goods and capital inside the EU.
A Grexit is difficult because how can the EU kick Greece out? They can't invade and retake all of the bank notes, they can only drain the banks of capital isf the banks volunteer it. All the EU can do is operate border controls and seek recourse in the bankruptcy courts.
For a real Grexit, Greece must be the actor. Greece must establish an alternative monetary system and then Greece must transition to it.
How do you stop a bunch of people from using your currency? Revoke the banks from the system? Banks are international. The EU would have to put trade sanctions on Greece to force them out of the euro. That would also open up huge fissures across the block.
In practice Greece cannot be kicked out. For a Grexit to happen Greece has to walk out. That's why Greece holds so much power.
The Montenegro currency is the euro and isn't even in the EU. I view this article as filler and is only a what-if exercise, totally meaningless.
And C means it was printed on a CIA printing press near Langley.
XXX notes were printed in Amsterdam.
Very interesting. Just had a look through my emergency fund (€6,5K of mostly 50 Euro bills) that I have withdrawn from my local German bank and NONE are Greek. Most of them are X's (German), mixed with some P's (Netherlands), S's (Italy) U's (France) and Z's (Belgium).
Greeks don't get out much anymore. Their velocity of currency is slower than fingernail growth.
"Greece has a printing facility and plates in hyperdrive" dupe....
It is inevitable that under Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, the varying two letters in front of the serial number on U.S. currency will be changed to three fixed letters: FKU.
might better have a receipt for a loaf of bread denominated in euros.
E.U. and Euro, already a failed experiment, it's all over but the shouting.
What kind of "union" brands the nationality of the supposedly "unifying currency"?
ummm the US$?
Failed experiment on purpose - to usher in a world currency after the chaos? After all, the BRICS are grouping together now, its stage managed to gradually usher in NWO. Next thing, the FED and other central bank will be closed down because they were seen as incompetent, the excuse to usher in a new world currency. They need to get the currency in place to do their TTIP deals. Just a thought.
Good plan. somehow, I don't really care what letters are on Euro Notes; but maybe that's just me.
So Greece DOES have a printing press! I smell a solution to the Greek debt problem at hand.
Dateline June 30th: Greece pays their 1.4 billion Euro payment against all odds, but strangely does so in crisp, new sequentially serialized paper Euro notes. Germany promply throws a hissy fit with allegations of couterfeiting. S&P up 100 points.
im not sure about prining press. they can print euro in ECB with different prefixs.
Countries is ordering to deliver paper notes to them.
numbnutt
ALL solutions are to print, what rock did you just come out from? The only real trick is to be able to hide it from the general population
junk bond
noun
plural noun: junk bonds
a high-yield, high-risk security, typically issued by a company seeking to raise capital quickly in order to finance a takeover.
The 500 Euro note has surpassed the Benjamin as the cash settlement of choice for drug cartels and big time dealers.
Today it is currency. Tomorrow is will make mediocre toilet paper.
Try pulling a 500 Euro note in France , a SWAT team would turn up in moments.
I think I'm going to stop taking Federal reserves notes from Washington, New York, or SanFrancisco just because.
If the choice comes down to Jeb and Hillary, I may be forced to vote for The Don.
Wouldn't it be nice .... to have a likeable .... outspoken President .... like Trump ?
This isn't really true. That first character only tells you the intended country of distribution, and the list in this article isn't complete. To find out where it's actually been *printed*, you have to look at that weird 6 character code. Some places print Euros, and ship them elsewhere for distribution. It's much better documented on the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_banknotes#Printing_works
For example, two facilities in Germany, and one each in Austria and the Netherlands also print Euros with serial numbers that start with a Y. The 6 character codes for these will start with an F, G, P, or R, depending. It's complicated. But one thing for sure, if the 6 character code starts with an N (printer in Athens), then the serial number will start with a Y, since Greece only prints Euros intended for initial distribution in Greece.
Greece can simply say - "here you go IMF, here is 1.4 billion Euros". Our electronic transfer number is X179D2987. Mark us paid!
How does the IMF know whether there is any money in Greece to cover it?
Just looked in my wallet., I have 70 euros in it but haven't touched them in 3 weeks because I use debit card for most transactions.
Of course you do.
How did anyone honestly think the EURO was gonna work.. LOL
As has been extensively covered, the failure was built in. AKA working as intended. For whose benefit ultimately, I suppose we just have to wait and see.
Fair point.
Legal tender has always been about politics rather than economics. Legal tender has always been about "national identity"
Standing in the Holy Land 2,000 years ago, if you could afford to have cash on you, what designation would be on the cash that you possess? The image of whoever happens to be the emperor in Rome of that time. "You are a conquered people and to remind that you are a conquered people you will only use the legal tender that we tell you to use"
ehm...
It is working, maybe not very well, but certainly working. The EU is the biggest market in the world. The Eurozone is the fourth economy after EU ( 1 ), US and China. Greece meanwhile is a country of 10 million people with an economy representing about 2.5 percent of the EU's GDP if I am not mistaken.
The 2 year bond yields of Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands ( and probably a few others ) are negative.
EU is the biggest development donor in the world.
Trade volume between EU and Asia is larger than trade between EU and USA.
Anybody got any data on international perception of EU and USA in comparative perspective ? I would not be surprised if the EU scores better in large parts of the world.
I understand it is all becoming a bit threatening to some. Hence the rants that seem disconnected from reality ?
Presuming you are American, I am in favor of closer political cooperation between EU and US.
Oh this is going to be fun, find the fake money! All old and senile people join in. Folks with glases and bad eyesight are welcome! The fun game for old and young. X marks the spot!
It is really easy. They are all fake. The real once are made of gold and weigh your pocket nicely, warm your hand and are too good to use!
BS. No one would dare turn down a euro note because of where its printed. They are all as freely exchangeable as the next ones. Its not as though the guys on the presses are olde drunken greeks saying, "lets stick it to Draghi and Merkel".
that IS Draghi saying how much and where to print.
Some Euros are more equal than others.
Imagine the drunken late-night party of clerks settling on the letters for each country.
"Friggin' Germans!", one blurts out."X their asses!" So the drunken scribe gave German notes an X.
Another wondered out loud about the Greeks belonging in the euro. "Why are they even IN this thing? Why? WHY?" he bleated. The reply was "OK, we'll give them a Y!"
"Belgium? Isn't that where the Zorba guy came from? That gets a Z, don't you think?"
By then the alcohol was in charge. "Italians? Stupid Italians? They deserve an 'S'". "And the French, what about them?" someone asked.
"They are UNBEARABLE," another replied, and in unison they all said "U!".
The scribe was so wasted there is no telling about the other letters. When they sobered up they all bought gold.
Since 2008, I no longer consider counterfeiting by non-banks a crime worthy of contempt. It seems patriotic now. The Greeks should just start cranking that garbage out.
Well, if each country has it's own EURO, then what was the POINT OF THE EURO IN THE FIRST PLACE!?
Omg...I swear, the world is full of fucking crazy people...every last god damned ONE of them is certifiably, batshit INSANE!
GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!
If you think everybody is crazy, what does that say about yourself ? :-)
Bill Mayer : "when one person hears voices, it's called schizophrenia. When millions hear it, it's called religion"
An iron law of normalcy : there is sanity in numbers.
Maybe a good starting point for discussions about the EU with all the "screamers" on this website. The EU is not exactly a marginal phenomenon. We have become a large part of the foundation of the current world order, whether they like it or not. Some of the "fuck the EU" people here come accross as a bit out of touch. But they are entitled to their opinion, of course.
Sometimes I feel like that character in Idiocracy...the insanity seems to be accepted by everyone but me, so maybe I AM the crazy one. They all seem to be navigating this insanity just fine...it's ME who is going wtf?
Maybe Brawndo really IS what plants crave...
So, as far as I understand it, any government that controls an euro printing facility that has ever printed euros has the de-facto option to just start printing as much as they wish. Who's to stop them? What consequences should they expect?
Even if someone decided to boycott notes printed at the rogue facility they could fake the code signifying the facility. Or just produce notes that have "damage" that just so happens to obscure or remove the code. There are places that are mandated to accept euro notes regardless of small damage. If they can make them they'll always be able to increase the euro supply as much as they want.
Would the rest of the EU consider it an act of war and bomb the printing facility? The EU doesn't even have its own military. Each of the governments would have to make that decision for itself. And it should be easy enough to hide a printer. This is just ridiculous. Trying to resist unlimited printing can only make things more unpleasant for all parties involved.
Considering the ever present possibility (and a bargaining chip) that a government may decide to counterfeit euros who's gonna resist pleas for more money via some other mechanism (loans, haircuts, ECB QE, etc.)? Ireland already did print euros on a whim, without asking for any authorization, a few years back. See here and here. It wasn't very widely reported and it didn't produce a huge public scandal (I guess it's just that nobody wanted the public to realize that something scandalous is going on, not that it wasn't extremely scandalous by nature).
So, in effect, the Eurozone is far from a place where no government has a printing press. In the Eurozone almost EVERYONE has a super printing press. One that, if the need arises, can produce instant seigniorage without producing instant local inflation expectations, because there are so many other countries using the very same currency! Better still, given that option, a government can often extort for more money coming from a "more legitimate" mechanism (loans, haircuts, ECB QE, etc.). Amazing.
There are two classes of Eurozone countries:
1. Those who control at least one euro banknote printing facility and have printed such banknotes in the past:
Finland, France, Austria, Netherlands, United Kingdom (not even in the Eurozone!), Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Germany, Belgium, Portugal;
2. and those who don't:
Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg.
I read somewhere that many Germans already sort their Euro notes so the keep the X (German) notes stashed in matresses and safe deposit boxes. They spend the other Euro notes as quickly as possble.
Many US readers will be unaware that here in the Uk have in fact got not just sterling 'Englih' bank notes but also'Scottish bank notes. They are widely distributed in Scotland and used there and equivalent in value to English notes and fully fungible but many people still do not trust 'Scottish' notes and spend them as quickly as possble or even refuse to accept them.
I fully expect Greek Y Euro notes to be come rejected by the European populus vey soon. I n addition, the fact that national European Govt are allowed to print a certain percentage of their own Euro notes is an open invitation in extreme circumsances to switch on the printing press in extreme circumstances. If Greece, Italy, Spain did this then the Euro woudl immediatley become distrusted.
Similar happned in Argentina with the Peso. Officially 1:1 with a US Dollar bill but even in the mid 1990 Argentine taxi drivers always gave Peso as change and kept Dollar bills. The exchange rate the street was 95 US cents per Peso. No one trusted the official Dollar:Peso parity and they turned out to be correct as we now know
All Fiat is Fake; A thru Z
Gold and Silver is the only real money. Ask JP Morgan.
For a long time now my 10.000 euro emergency stash only sports
notes from strong euro countries, and spread out evenly in the case it is Germany that leaves the euro and the X notes become valueless.
At this moment everything is possible
That and my 300 ouce silver emergency stash comprised of eagles, monikers, britanias, leafs etc