2019-03-20 Wed

A numismatics company from UAE named Numisbing, released two Zero Euro souvenir notes to celebrate the 150th birth year of Mahatma Gandhi. These are the first two releases of a 12-note commemorative series which is dedicated to Gandhiji. Only 5000 notes of each design would be printed.

Designed by a Dubai-based Indian artist named Akbar Saheb, the notes feature imagery based on the most significant events from the life of Gandhiji. The Indian Government had issued commemorative notes to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Gandhiji as well. The founder of Numisbing, Ramkumar has a collection of 45 such commemorative banknotes in all denominations and prefixes. This remarkable feat has earned him a spot in the Limca Book of Records too.

The European Central Bank authorises the Zero Euro souvenir note and they are printed using security printers which are used to print the Euro banknotes. Security features of Euro banknotes are included in these notes. However, they carry no value and cannot be used as legal currency.

The first note design is based on the three promises that young Gandhi made before he left for England to pursue his further studies in law. Puttlibai didn’t want Gandhiji to leave the country as she thought he would become addicted to bad habits. A Saint asked Putlibai to take three vows from Gandhi, that he would not consume alcohol, that he would not eat non-vegetarian food and that he would respect women in every aspect.

The second note is designed to recreate the historic moment when Gandhi stuck to his beliefs and didn’t de-board a “whites-only” compartment of a train at Pietermaritzburg Railway Station, South Africa in 1893, for which he was thrown out of the train. From that moment, Gandhiji realized the power of non-violence and used this tool to fight for India’s independence. The remaining 10 notes in the series will be released on 2nd October 2019.

Image courtesy: Numisbing