The Moon on banknotes

We have been pondering about, whether a banknote does exist with a depiction of the Moon. Thanks to Google, we found something and discovered a variety of examples from different countries – with popular and less well known currencies. On the left you can see a detail of a Swiss 10 francs note, which depicts our solar system with several planets, amongst them also our Earth and its Moon.

A nice example is the 200 shekels note from Israel. Surrounded by radiant blue, you can see the full moon on the reverse shining through the branches of a tree, which lends this motif a magic touch – a »moonlight banknote«, so to speak.

On the 20000 pesos note from Colombia, the Moon is pictured as a celestial body with the lunar maria, next to an image of the Colombian astronomer Julio Garavito Armero, after whom a Moon crater was named. The Garavito crater is shown on the rear of the note, along with a view of the Earth.

The Swedish 1000 kroner banknote is interesting, because the Moon, in this case a half moon, has been worked directly into the image of the sun and is only visible under ultraviolet light.  It serves as a safety feature and helps to recognize counterfeit money. This is a beautiful metaphor, because the Moon is only visible to us in the sky due to the sunlight.

The Russian artist and designer Vladislav Novikov-Barkovsky created bank notes for a fictitious »Moon Republic«. According to his idea, the currency would be called »lunar« and all notes, logically, have a direct relation to the Moon. On the 3 lunar note you can see an antique depiction of a star gazing scene with a crescent moon in the sky.

Valuable, valuable the Moon seems to be, and fascinating enough, time and time again, to gain entry into our everyday world. You simply have to search for and discover it.

P.S.: If you should know further examples of banknotes with the Moon as a motif, please drop us a line in the comment section! We are looking forward to a journey around the world.