Armenia's Central Bank has unveiled today hybrid banknotes "Noah's Ark" with a face value of 500 drams. The size of the banknote is 140 x 76 mm. It is printed on high-quality Hybrid™ composite material, covered on both sides with cotton paper and protected by a thin layer of polyester. The banknote has a multi-colored Noyan Tapan (Noah's Ark) watermark, as well as a facevalue watermark.

According to Central Bank secretary general David Nahapetyan, the 500-dram collectible banknotes are a prototype of new third generation composite banknotes, which will go into circulation onNovember 22, 2018, when Armenia will mark the 25th anniversary of introduction of the national currency.

According to the head of the currency issue department of the Central Bank Nune Teryan, the new banknotes have a number of protective signs. She explained why the Central Bank chose the compositeraw material Hybrid ™. According to her, such raw materials allow printing banknotes with traditional protective signs which paper banknotes have and use also innovative protection technologies. Shesaid the Central Bank will be ensuring a smooth transition of the population to new banknotes.

"Over the past few years, many types of raw materials for banknotes have been created, the main purpose of which is to extend their circulation period, and naturally the most durable is thebanknote made of polymers. But the Central Bank chose the most stress-free option for the population's transition to new banknotes preferring the hybrid raw materials," she said.

To read the complete article, see:
Armenian central bank issues first collectible hybrid banknote(http://arka.am/en/news/business/armenian_central_bank
_issues_first_collectible_hybrid_banknote/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
KYRGYZ REPUBLIC BANKNOTE USES MOTION SURFACE (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n48a27.html)