6th December 2018


Bank of Korea Wins HSP Asia Reward for Best New Commemorative Banknote

 

The prestigious HSP Regional Banknote Awards was this year divided into three categories. The award for the Best New Commemorative Banknote was given to the Bank of Korea for the commemorative 2,000 won. 2.3 million notes where produced to mark the 2018 Winter Olympic Games held in PyeongChang – and the key security feature was MOTION® Switch micro-optics from Crane Currency.

The HSP Regional Banknote Awards recognizes excellent design, technical sophistication and security of a banknote or banknote series.

The other two classes recognized in Hanoi was the Best New Series award to Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Best New Banknote to the Bank of Thailand for the new Thai 1,000 baht.

Passion for athletics

‘Passion. Connected’ was the official motto of the Olympic Games 2018. The 2,000 won commemorative note was therefore designed to connect the passion for athletics with the love of sportsmanship and culture.

The front of the commemorative banknote features athletes from seven winter sports events – biathlon, ice hockey, curling, speed skating, ski jumping, luge, and bobsled. On the reverse is the painting entitled Tiger under a Pine Tree by Kim Hong-do, a celebrated 18th century artist.

Pleasing and easy to authenticate

At the banknote’s center is MOTION Switch – Crane Currency’s micro-optic security feature that protects some of the world’s most valuable banknotes. MOTION Switch exhibits the same easy to authenticate movement as MOTION but holds an additional level of security.

A distinct change from one moving image to another is triggered when the banknote is tilted. The character “ㅊ” fluidly moves and changes to the character “ㅍ”, creating acronyms for “PyeongChang”, providing security and a dynamic action that captures the speed and beauty of Olympic sport.

Leading security technologies

The commemorative banknote showcases leading security technologies. In addition to the MOTION windowed security thread, the banknote includes Kurz OVD hologram, watermark and special press and soldering (SPAS), intaglio printing, intaglio latent image, tactile mark for the vision-impaired, novel numbering, color-shifting ink, and micro lettering.

 

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