Banknotes

21 currencies, with who is on each denomination, what was withdrawn and why, and the two practical facts nobody publishes: what the notes are made of and whether a blind person can tell them apart.

The countries that put nobody on the money

• The euro uses invented architecture. Every arch and bridge on a euro note is fictional, because using a real one would have favoured the country it stands in. A Dutch designer built all seven bridges for real in Spijkenisse in 2013.
• Switzerland uses abstract themes — time, light, wind, water, matter, language — on the reasoning that any national figure belongs to one of the country's four language communities rather than all of them. The notes are also printed vertically.
• Norway's reverses are pixel art whose proportions encode wind speed at sea.
• Brazil puts an allegorical figure of the Republic on the front and a native animal on the back, so the currency doubles as a field guide.

Every currency here

Polymer or paper

7 of the 21 currencies here are polymer. Australia issued the first polymer note in the world in 1988 and had converted its whole currency by 1996; every polymer currency since descends from that research. A polymer note lasts roughly two and a half times as long as a paper one and survives a washing machine, which is the reason central banks switch — the security features are a bonus rather than the driver.

Whether a blind person can use them

19 of the 21 vary their note size by denomination, which is the simplest and most reliable tactile cue there is. The United States does not, and in 2008 a federal appeals court agreed that this discriminated against blind Americans. Nearly two decades later no size variation or tactile feature has been introduced. Canada solved the same problem differently, with raised dots, without changing the size.

• The money in United States US dollar — 7 denominations
• The money in Eurozone Euro — 6 denominations
• The money in United Kingdom Pound sterling — 4 denominations
• The money in India Indian rupee — 6 denominations
• The money in Japan Japanese yen — 3 denominations
• The money in Zimbabwe Zimbabwean dollar — 1 denominations
• The money in Australia Australian dollar — 5 denominations
• The money in Canada Canadian dollar — 5 denominations
• The money in China Renminbi — 6 denominations
• The money in Switzerland Swiss franc — 6 denominations
• The money in South Africa South African rand — 5 denominations
• The money in Sweden Swedish krona — 6 denominations
• The money in Singapore Singapore dollar — 5 denominations
• The money in Brazil Brazilian real — 7 denominations
• The money in Mexico Mexican peso — 6 denominations
• The money in Turkey Turkish lira — 6 denominations
• The money in Hong Kong Hong Kong dollar — 5 denominations
• The money in Norway Norwegian krone — 5 denominations
• The money in New Zealand New Zealand dollar — 5 denominations
• The money in Israel Israeli new shekel — 4 denominations
• The money in Vietnam Vietnamese đồng — 6 denominations