Banknote Database made by collectors, for collectors

Stock photos and the banknote

October 20, 2024 @ 18:34

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank released a commemorative $50 banknote in August 2024 to celebrate Grenada's 50th anniversary of independence in 1974. The ECCB is the central bank and currency issuing authority for 8 sets of islands, not all of which are currently independent. This is the first country-specific commemorative banknote they've released, and if this becomes a pattern Dominica will be the next constituent area to have it's 50th anniversary of independence in 2028. The design of the note is vertical and is almost entirely made up of Alamy stock photos. One of the fonts used is a $30 off-the-shelf design called Humanist 521 Roman. That's not to say it's lazy, it's a great design.

Banknote design has undergone significant transformation over time. Historically, banknotes were crafted by skilled engravers and designers who meticulously combined intricate patterns, detailed portraits, and symbolic elements to create visually compelling notes, for the most part. These designs often reflected cultural heritage, historical figures, and national pride, making them small works of art and a part of the country's artistic legacy. This note might mark a shift towards more digitized and less personalized forms of design. While this approach offers benefits in terms of cost and production efficiency, it's not super exciting. It's a throwback to the earliest days of banknote design where countries and banks in places like Mexico and China could choose vignettes out of catalogs and someone would throw it all together. 

Here's a look at the face of the note and some of the Alamy stock photos used as comparison.

The only pictoral element on the face not using a stock photo is that of the airport terminal building, which was supplied to De La Rue from a bank employee. The plane at the bottom is split into two parts, and is taken from a vector stock image by Alena Niadvetskaya of a Russian Ilyushin IL-96. It's unclear if any IL-96 planes have ever visited the Maurice Bishop international airport (the airport spokesman did not think so). The adults standing on the cliff are actually in Turkey, in an image supplied to Alamy by a German firm.

Of particular note is the map of Grenada on the face. It was also taken from a stock vector and incidentally one that's incorrect, at least geopolitically. The top two islands on the map aren't part of Grenada's territory. The island of Petit Saint Vincent shown on the banknote is, as the name would imply, part of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

 

The stock image used and the offending tiny islands at the top right.

It's pretty unlikely anyone will notice these minor errors in the banknote's design, but it might be something symbolic of using premade stock imagery on a banknote. At one point it was taboo to include another country's territory on your banknotes, and you had to be very careful with maps. This would cause a huge issue in places that are sensitive to territory like Argentina but not so much here in the Caribbean.

Saudi Arabia once used the below free vector world map on the back of a banknote in 2020. Notice that China has somehow swallowed several central asian nations due to an error in the artwork.

The same borders made it onto the banknote. Presumably, the designer would color in the boundaries of each of the G20 nations. When filling in India, they forgot the extra area meant to fill in Kashmir, and there was a diplomatic incident. (China didn't appear to say anything about its expanded territory).

In the Eastern Caribbean region the US dollar is the pre-dominant form of payment and the EC Dollar is begged to it at 2.7 to 1 since 1976. It's likely new banknote designs at the very least get locals more excited about using their indigenous currency. Like other EC banknotes, the security features on this one are gorgeous and very well done, the coat of arms of Grenada even includes an armadillo. Here's hoping the ECCB puts out more of these commemorative banknotes but at least gets the maps right next time.