Tyvek or non tyvek? Is that the issue?
Relax in your armchair. This text is very long, and in order to have a pleasant reading enjoy the wonderful Pachebel Canon in D. This text was written in two versions by my friend Trevor Wilkin. It is an excellent and consistent overview on polymer notes. When you have read it, you will know almost everything in this numismatic field. Enjoy!
In a few short years Australians are accustomed to plastic or
polymer banknotes such that to come across an "old"
paper note in change is an oddity and cause for comment. The
story of plastic banknotes however is much longer and although
the Australia's approach has received international recognition,
it was by no means the first.
Australia's focus on "a better banknote" goes back to
1967, the early days of decimal currency when the $10 was heavily
counterfeited. The CSIRO (as it was then) and the Reserve Bank
combined their energies to develop that "better banknote"
at least from a security perspective. The end result was the $10
Bicentenary Commemorative issued in 1988 and of course now
Australia's entire range of polymer notes. By all reports, or at
least from the lack of them, counterfeiting has declined since
the introduction of polymer notes and these initial objectives
have been largely achieved.
As a consequence of the $10 Bicentenary, Note Printing Australia
(NPA) was able to market its polymer technology to a number of
countries. It is probably fair to say that some resistance was
met particularly when Australia was still using paper notes and
not all public comment on polymer was favorable. Its efforts were
perhaps easier once Australia fully converted. NPA has certainly
met with some success and there are now 14 countries having
issued, continuing to issue or have announced an issue of polymer
banknotes. Most are in the Asia-Pacific region and that is no
coincidence as these days Governments tend to demonstrate a
preference for printers to be geographically convenient if that
is practical to minimize the security risks of shipment. A recent
joint venture, Securency, with a European based multinational may
broaden the market base.
However, as is often the case, someone has been there before. In
the early 1980s the American Bank Note Company (ABNC) with the
assistance of the DuPont Group experimented with the plastic
banknote concept. DuPont produces a plastic called TyvekŪ which,
at the time, one of its many uses was to make straps to hold
bundles of notes together.
Two of the Governments took up ABNC on their offer—Costa
Rica and Haiti. Perhaps spurred by the success, Bradbury
Wilkinson which at that time was an ABNC subsidiary, secured a
contract from the Isle of Man Government. In this case, TyvekŪ
became known as Bradvek which suggests that it was produced under
license by Bradbury Wilkinson in the United Kingdom.
Costa Rica and the Isle of Man restricted their involvement to a
single denomination each—the 20 Colones for the former and
the L1 for the latter. Haiti was more adventurous, ordering notes
of 1, 2, 50, 100, 250 and 500 Gourdes (Pick 230b, 231b, 235b, and
c, 236b, P237, and P238). Only the 5 Gourdes was not issued in
plastic. Costa Rica (Pick 252) is dated 28 June 1983. Haiti is
undated but all indications are that it was issued in 1983. P237
and 238, or the 250 and 500 Gourdes of this Haiti issue, were
only in plastic and although similar to those denominations of an
earlier issue, some plate changes would have been necessary. The
Isle of Man (Pick 39) is recorded in contemporary numismatic
publications as being issued in 1983. The 1, 100, 250 and 500
Gourdes of Haiti are quite scarce, seldomly appearing on dealers
lists (a small group appeared on the market in 1996 and were
quickly snapped up); the others tend to be available with some
effort.
These issues are the same design as their paper counterparts but
if one knows the signs, it is easy to distinguish between them.
Costa Rica's plastic has a Z prefix as well as a defined date;
Haiti's paper notes are printed on paper with coloured
planchettes (small randomly dispersed red and blue dots). Their
plastic notes also have discreet serial prefixes though more
research is required to compile an exhaustive list for each
denomination. One version of the 50 Gourdes has the ABNC logo—the
bald eagle—as a "watermark" and another is without
the eagle. Perhaps there were political overtones because of
similarity with the eagle symbol of the USA; perhaps it was
simply the TyvekŪ sheets that were used in different print runs.
The Isle of Man L1 has prefixes M, N, and P and 2,500,000 were
ordered ending with serial number P500,000.
They had a relatively short life. It is understood that the
tropical climate had a devastating effect upon the printing on
TyvekŪ. As the notes circulated, the ink "smudged" and
the notes became unusable. The Costa Rica and Haiti notes were
withdrawn and quickly replaced by their paper counterparts. Haiti
was soon to issue a new design using several different printers
rather than ABNC only. For the Isle of Man, its L1 attracted a
lot of criticism through the difficulty of handling (much as our
notes did when we were handling a mix of paper and plastic). It
was finally withdrawn in 1988 (coincidently at the time Australia's
first polymer was issued) shortly after Bradbury Wilkinson was
acquired by Thomas de la Rue & Co from ABNC and it is
understood that its licensing rights consequently expired.
Normally we could rule off the ledger here and conclude by saying
"such is the story of plastic banknotes as it is today".
However in recent years some of the trial banknotes produced by
the ABNC have entered the market. They first came to my attention
in 1997 when several lots were auctioned by Spink in London. In
appearance they have the characteristics of unissued notes
although there are variations. Some are signed, others are not;
some have zero serial numbers, others are without numbers
altogether; some are punch cancelled and some have a "Specimen"
overprint.
All are replicas of current paper issues of the particular
country. To date eight notes have been traced. A 10 and 100
Sucres (like Pick 115 and 118) of Ecuador, a 5 and 10 Colones (like
Pick 139 and 128) of El Salvador, a 10 Lempiras (like Pick 64) of
Honduras, a 10 and 20 Bolivares (like Pick 57 and 53) of
Venezuela and lastly a 100 Colones (like P248) issue of Costa
Rica. The latter is the only one which I have not been able to
acquire although I have seen only two or three of others,
particularly the Honduras and Venezuela 20 Bolivares. Trials and
specimens of the issued plastics of Costa Rica and Haiti have
also been spotted—once again the 250 and 500 Guardes are
unsighted. Most are Extremely Fine to Uncirculated condition
although for some it is evident that their strength and
durability has been tested as attempts to tear them and repeated
folding is evident.
It seems that ABNC commenced printing sometime after June 1980 as
the El Salvador 5 Colones trial is dated 19 June 1980. A further
clue to timing is that the Venezuela 10 Bolivares (P57) was
initially issued as a paper note dated 29 January 1980, but was
modified in many small ways, most notably the portrait of De
Sucre, being re-issued as P60 on 6 October 1981. ABNC modelled
their trial on the earlier Pick 57 version.
Numbers produced may never be known. It is perhaps a matter of
one or two sheets of each denomination but that is purely
conjecture. From investigations in Europe and the United States
of America, known trial pieces warrant a rarity rating. Enquiries
of the ABNC do not provide any meaningful response; there may
have been trials produced for other countries but they are unable
to confirm. No doubt if one had the time and the ability to
peruse ABNC's records of the day, then much more information may
become available. Although after almost 20 years some of these
records may have been destroyed as ABNC has been through mergers
and acquisitions and does not retain the singular identity it
once had.
There are many unknowns and there will always be an element of
speculation but the basic facts speak for themselves. Both the
trial notes and the issued TyvekŪ items will become increasingly
sought after as more countries adopt NPA's polymer technology as
these pieces are the vanguard of plastic notes.
There are ongoing developments in the polymer note issue.
Thailand has purchased the technology (including the polymer
sheets) from NPA to produce the 1997 regular 50 Baht polymer
under licence in its own printing facilities. Press reports
advise that both Canada and the United States of America are
examining plastic as a medium to replace existing cotton based
paper; Australia's polymer process is being reviewed. New Zealand
is converting to polymer with the $5, $10, $20 and $100 already
out and with the $50 due early 2000. All notes use the current
paper design as a basis. It will also issue a special $10
circulating polymer to commemorate the millennium year, well 2000
at least, and this is now available as a packaged note with the
circulated version due for release in early 2000. Romania has
issued a 2000 Lei note commemorating the August 1999 Northern
Hemisphere eclipse of the sun and Taiwan in June this year
released a $50 polymer commemorating 50th Anniversary of its note
issue. On June 28, 1999, Papua New Guinea released a Kina 50
polymer regular issue based on its paper Kina 50 (also produced
by NPA).
Brazil will be issuing a 10 Real Polymer commemorating the 500th
anniversary of European Settlement in April 2000 as a trial for
possible full conversion. It will acquire the technology from NPA
and manufacturer under license this issue in its own printing
facilities. Australia will be issuing a polymer $5 commemorative
for its centenary of federation in 2001.
My spies tell me that many other countries are considering a
polymer issue and there are some currently under production. New
Zealand's conversion has given a boost to the technology and it
is understood that other Pacific countries are amongst those
seriously considering the change. This is obviously dynamic and
this article may well be outdated by the time you read it as new
issues are announced.
Plastic banknotes will be with us for some considerable time,
probably until the next leap forward in technology, wherever that
may take us.
***
Trevor Wilkin carries all the NPA issues and most of the ABNC
notes including some of the trial pieces. He can be contacted at
P.O. Box 182, NSW 2062, Australia. Telefax: ++61-2-9438-5040. E-mail:
trevorsnotes@bigpond.com.
References: Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Modern Issues,
3rd Edition. Various issues of the Reserve Bank of Australia
staff magazine