04/16/12 – Facts on money you don’t know about! (Unless, of course, you do)

Added by Joseph L.A. Hall on April 16, 2012.
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Editor’s Note: The Blip includes short headlines with odd, feel-good, informational, or pointless material. Stories are presented in a fast, easy-to-read format with news that will make you laugh and be enlightened. The Blip is updated daily.

New Zealand coins intergalactic currency

In August of last year, the fabulous country of New Zealand took another giant step into the realm of ‘awesome’ by coining eight (soon to be forty-eight) Star Wars themed coins, worth $2 each. Though they are actually legal tender, few if any will use them for purchasing.

Two series of four coins, made of .999 fine silver were issued: The Darth Vader series and the Millennium Falcon series, each worth $469.00 NZD ($383.74 USD). Of course, that price does not include shipping.

For the frugal coin collector (does one exist?), 10 silver-plated coins are available for $23.50 NZD ($19.23 USD) each, plus shipping.

The back of the coins display the face of Queen Elizabeth II, designed by Raphael Maklouf.

Canada’s luminescent coin

Canada’s newest coin, fresh from the mint, features a world first: Glow. An artist’s rendering of a Pachyrhinosaurus lakustai, science-talk for big-headed dinosaur, glows-in-the-dark. It’s only one of a four coin series.

It costs merely $29.95 Canadian dollars (which is $29.94 USD, darn our inflation), but has a face value of twenty-five cents.

The back features the face of Queen Elizabeth (not the same as the NZ queen above). She does not glow. But place the dino under bright light for about a minute, and enjoy classic green radiance.

Plastic money (you can actually spend)

We travel once more to the magnificent birthplace of maple syrup, snow, and Justin Bieber (wait… I take back that “magnificent” part) for the plastic money that isn’t found in a Monopoly game box.

Canada replaced their paper-cotton blend bank notes with a polymer material designed to thwart counterfeiters, just last year. An incredible slew of security features are found on the notes, such as raised ink, hidden numerals, changing colors, windows, and transparency.

The more common $5 bill includes images of the International Space Station and Canadarm2. The $50 bill features Prime Minister Mackenzie King and the Cnadian Coast Guard research vessel.

The $100 bill is really cool. Besides the images of a microscope, DNA, an EKG, and insulin, it includes two effigies of Prime Minister Robert Borden. One of them appears as a hologram in a clear window that, when viewing angle is changed, alterations in color occur.

Interestingly enough, the plastic is made from an Australian company.

04/16/12 – Facts on money you don’t know about! (Unless, of course, you do)

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