The Money Maker
February 26, 2007 10:38 PM   Subscribe

The Money Maker :"On the 1000 guilder note, it became a “sport” for me to put things in the notes that nobody wanted there! I was very proud to have my fingerprint in this note – and it’s my middle finger!"
posted by dhruva (32 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
That lighthouse one is awesome.
posted by juv3nal at 10:45 PM on February 26, 2007


Those are lovely banknotes. I rather like the snipe.
posted by mr_roboto at 10:55 PM on February 26, 2007


Great find, cheers.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:00 PM on February 26, 2007


Wonderful post. Charming story of this artist's life as a money-maker. Ootje Oxenaar said, "I’ve never had a dull moment in all the 25 years I worked on it." What a delightful thing to be able to say about one's work. His sense of twinkly mischief, humor and joy comes through his art. Who could imagine banknotes could be so fun?
posted by nickyskye at 11:02 PM on February 26, 2007


That brings back memories. Does anyone out there actually LIKE the euro bills?
posted by swordfishtrombones at 11:25 PM on February 26, 2007


Excellent post. I think it may be the most beautiful money in the world, not that I know much from money.

I've got a couple of those notes somewhere. I'd dig 'em out if I knew where they're buried.
posted by wsg at 12:20 AM on February 27, 2007


I liked those notes. Spending them was like being part of a game, where we had little pieces of art in our wallets, instead of scraps of economic functionality. But the best money was the old British currency, £sd — that was steam money, valve money, compared to the digital decimal stuff we spend now.
posted by MinPin at 12:58 AM on February 27, 2007


Brings back memories for me, too: I always really liked the Dutch bills. They were wonderful. Thanks for the post. The fingerprint thing is great! Those mischievous Dutch money designers!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:12 AM on February 27, 2007


Does anyone out there actually LIKE the euro bills?
The Euro bills really are boring, but the coins more than make up for that, I still check every single one I get (and one day I will find the Atomium one).
posted by snownoid at 1:59 AM on February 27, 2007


Rumourfilter: The Dutch guilder notes were printed by a company named Joh. Enschede & Zn. Apparently they hold a few patents in the area of counterfeiting countermeasures. When the time came around for tendering who would print the euro bills, the company was basically excluded because they would have had a monopoly on actually printing the money. This is part of the reason why the euro notes are much duller.

New Canadian dollar bills remind me of the old Dutch ones.
posted by LanTao at 2:15 AM on February 27, 2007


Heh, mefi atmosphere was more critical when our old colourful dutch notes were compared to american money.

It's a bit of a double.

But great all the same.

As a result of that old post I investigated how hard it is to come by old dutch money. Unfortunately they aren't priced as pretty pictures but still more expensive than their original denomination. 'tis a pity; I'd really like a sunflower and lighthouse framed on the wall.

Aside: Hey, dutch pile on on mefi! Hoera!
posted by jouke at 3:43 AM on February 27, 2007


That rabbit is charming as fuck.
posted by beerbajay at 5:10 AM on February 27, 2007


Ahh memories! I fell in love with the Guilder notes when I moved to Holland, and my favorite was the 50fl. I was sad when the move to the Euro came in, Euros are boring and the conversion rate from the Guilder to the Euro was a pain, but not as bad as trying to convert mentally, on a trip to Antwerp Guilders to Belgian Francs whilst all the time trying to refer to my home currency of Sterling. I think I still have some Guilder notes somewhere, I'll have to dig 'em out.
posted by ob at 5:40 AM on February 27, 2007


Cheeky bastard. I'll take the credit for this as I posted it into the american money thread a few posts up from jouke.
posted by i_cola at 5:50 AM on February 27, 2007


Heh. It's not about the notes, but the designer :)
posted by dhruva at 5:56 AM on February 27, 2007


snownoid: Thanks for the headsup on the Atomium coin, Hadn't heard about it, will find one to add to my collection (Belgian inlawas will help). The Atomium is a cool place.

I had the entire set of Euro coins before a year was out, collected from circulation. Still have a couple German "starter sets" of coins in their original sealed bags (lived in Germany at the time).

Guilder notes are beautiful. They had to be, to do justice to their nation of origin.
posted by Goofyy at 6:00 AM on February 27, 2007


Great post. I love the designs, especially the snipe.
posted by languagehat at 6:01 AM on February 27, 2007


Neat. Add this to the list of Jobs I'd Prefer To Have.

And I think we can weather two currency threads in the same month.
posted by cortex at 6:08 AM on February 27, 2007


dhruva: I know. I posted the CR blog to the money thread...follow the link.
posted by i_cola at 6:09 AM on February 27, 2007


You're acting a bit touchy i_cola. I did not claim credit. I noted double. Relax.
posted by jouke at 6:19 AM on February 27, 2007


The Spinoza is wonderful: light and playful, with a fingerprint in the hair! Nice post.
posted by grimmelm at 6:22 AM on February 27, 2007


Great post. This money maker fellow seems talented both in the artistic sense, and the humor sense.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 8:24 AM on February 27, 2007


Currency easter eggs. Awesome.
posted by GuyZero at 9:17 AM on February 27, 2007


Loved that. Thanks!
posted by brautigan at 10:03 AM on February 27, 2007


These are really beautiful. I threw together some pictures of the 250 note in Photoshop and the image is now my laptop's desktop wallpaper.
posted by Zephyrial at 10:44 AM on February 27, 2007


hi-res lighthouse hi-res sunflower
posted by jouke at 12:09 PM on February 27, 2007


LanTao: Rumourfilter: The Dutch guilder notes were printed by a company named Joh. Enschede & Zn. Apparently they hold a few patents in the area of counterfeiting countermeasures. When the time came around for tendering who would print the euro bills, the company was basically excluded because they would have had a monopoly on actually printing the money.

That doesn't make any sense.
Whether they have patents covering the technology for printing Euro bills (and thereby have them the right to exclude everyone else from doing so) doesn't depend on whether they bid for or get this job.
posted by sour cream at 1:59 PM on February 27, 2007


Thanks for that jouke. All this is making me miss Holland, but fortunately I'm going to be there next week, so it won't be too long before I can have Stroopwafels, Bitterballen etc. etc. again!
posted by ob at 2:21 PM on February 27, 2007


The pre-Euro Dutch money was wonderful. So great to see the old sunflower again! Probably the only notes I have ever encountered that beat the Australian ones for colourfulness & quirky design.

Oh, and American currency is about as interesting as porridge.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:03 PM on February 27, 2007


Oh, and American currency is about as interesting as porridge.

But you can use it to purchase the greatest variety of breakfast cereals the world has ever known!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:46 AM on February 28, 2007


meh. who wants breakfast cereals when you can have pancakes "flapjacks"?
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:38 PM on February 28, 2007


Well put, Roivas, well put.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:49 PM on February 28, 2007


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