Kazakhstan 1000 tenge banknote named best in the world

Kazakhstan's commemorative 1000 tenge banknote dedicated to a historical figure Kultegin (a political and military leader of the Second Turkic Kaganat) has been acknowledged The Banknote of the Year by the International Banknote Society contest (IBNS), Tengrinews reports referring to the official website of IBNS.

100 rubles (Russia, commemorative Olympic banknote), 5 euro (Europe), 5 reals (Brazil), 50 dinars (Libya), 10,000 krona (Iceland), 100 dollars (USA), 10 dollars (Canada), 100 dollars (Fiji), 50 dollars (Barbados) and 50 dollars (Solomon islands) were also among the contenders for the title of the Best Banknote 2013.

Kazakhstan banknotes has received this award for the third year in a row. In 2011, the 10,000 tenge Kazakhstani banknote dedicated to the 20th anniversary of independence of Kazakhstan became the Best Banknote of the Year. In 2012, the award went to the 5,000 tenge banknote that had Kazakh Eli monument and flying doves.

The 1,000 tenge banknote that won the 2013 award was put into circulation on December 12, 2013 by the National bank of Kazakhstan. The run of the issue is 10 million bills.

The banknote made in yellow and brown. The obverse has a image of a part of the Kultegin stone monument, and an image of Kazakh Eli monument and flying doves again, as a symbol of Kazakhstan's independence.

The reverse is covered with images of rock carvings portraying Turkic warriors on horses, a monument of Turkic writing and a deer.

There is a 12mm-wide holographic band depicting fragments of the Kazakhstan national flag, the National Bank’s logo and an inscription saying Eskertkish tenge ("commemorative bill" in Kazakh).

The importance of this award lies in the fact that the organization’s members have no interest in promotion of any particular country select the winner. The victory is based on the esthetic perception of the design, the quality of the print and safety methods used to protect the banknote from forgery.

IBNS is a world-wide independent society of banknote collectors that selects the Banknote of the Year via an Internet-based voting at its website. This is a noncommercial organization. Its goal is to study world banknotes and paper money and their educational, scientific and historical aspects. Experts from more than 90 countries of the world are the members of the Society at present. There are more than 2,000 members in the Society now.

Kazakhstan banknotes have been awarded with several other international prizes as well. National Bank’s new banknote series won The Best Series of the Year Prize of the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) in 2007. A 10,000 tenge note was awarded with the first prize in The Best New Banknote nomination for the Optiks element in Bangkok in 2007. A 5,000 tenge note that was dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the Kazakh currency and its protective element SPARK were acknowledged the best in 2008.