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The World's Coolest Currency

UGO presents a list of The World's Coolest Currency.


Even though the United States leads the rest of the world in many areas (rap music, snack foods, et cetera), there is one thing that we´ve fallen shamefully behind on: the aesthetic appeal of our money. For most of the last century, our paper money was a set of nearly identical drab green slips, with dismal portraiture of some of our best Presidents and other historical figures, introduced in 1923. From the father of our country George Washington on the humble dollar to semi-obscure Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase on the ten large, these bills were the best we could do until 2004. A new series was introduced that year, with a number of innovations - bigger portraits, new watermarks, and most importantly, splashes of color. But other countries had been doing all that and more for many years. In this feature, we take a whirlwind tour around the globe to look at the money of many nations, giving props to the Earth´s Coolest Currency.

by K. Thor Jensen

Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong´s style-forward modernist bills are some of the most visually innovative of the World's currency, looking like a Spirograph dropped ecstasy and made out with Helvetica. Until the 21st century, Hong Kong notes were designed after the traditional British model, with a large portrait of Queen Elizabeth and King George, coupled with some classical Chinese iconography. But when the changeover to Chinese stewardship occurred, the old ways of kow-towing to the West needed to go. Their replacements are unusual and fascinating, a group of multi-colored geometric arrangements printed on a unique polymer plastic instead of paper, with a transparent window. Incredibly difficult to counterfeit, the banknotes are also amazing works of art. Unfortunately, it´s not a global design for the notes, as many of the others stick with traditional Chinese art, but we hope that the rest of the denominations will follow suit.

See More: cool | design | China | Hong Kong