Author|Lu Zhenxiang
Coin encapsulation is the final step in the numismatic printing process, and includes two categories: banknote encapsulation and coin encapsulation. The encapsulated coins are sent from the printing or mint to the major banks where they are put into use. Different countries have different ways of encapsulating coins.
Banknote encapsulation
● Encapsulation terminology
The smallest unit of banknotes is "zhang", which is one banknote. One hundred serial banknotes are generally called "one handful", and in the collecting circle, it is called "one knife", so fifty serial banknotes are "half a knife". 1,000 serial banknotes are called "one bundle", that is, "ten knives". The 5,000 serial banknotes are called "one piece", that is, "five bundles". 10,000 serial notes are called "one pack".
It is important to note that the above names must be based on hyphenic signs. For example, if someone also has a collection of 1,000 brand new 1990 dollar bills, but they are not consecutive, the 1,000 bills cannot technically be called a "bundle". In the same way, for dozens, dozens, or even hundreds of banknotes of the same version and face value but not serial numbers, they are called "loose sheets" in the collection circle, and "scattered" refers to the incoherent number of banknotes.
●Encapsulation mode
Banknote packaging is mostly encapsulated in units of 100 banknotes. At present, there are two main types of packaging modes for banknotes in various countries: "waist seal type" and "book binding model". The "waist seal" package is more commonly used, while the "staple model" package is only used in a few countries because it will cause damage to the banknote face.
First, let's look at the "waist seal" package.
The waist seal, also known as the belt, is a long strip of paper used when the original banknote is sealed, which has the function of fixing the banknote, neatly wrapping and convenient counting. Each knife banknote will have a waist seal when it leaves the factory, and some of the waist seals will have decorative patterns or related introductory text, which is a "written version of the waist cover", such as the waist cover of the Burundi 10,000 franc banknote has the words "100 sheets of 10,000 francs, a total of 1,000,000 francs" written in French. The waist cover of the Polish 500 zloty banknote bears the words "100 sheets of 50 zlotys, a total of 5,000 zlotys" written in Polish. Another type of waist seal without words is a simple white paper seal, such as the waist seal on the Sri Lankan 20 rupee note and the Eswatini 200 li langini banknote.
The paper waist seal is easy to open and break, so for Tibetan friends who like to collect "knife goods", in addition to protecting the quality of the whole knife banknote, the protection of the waist seal should not be neglected.
Let's take a look at the "stapler model" package.
The "stapler model" packaging is to directly use the stapler to bind the relevant instruction paper and a knife banknote together, and the general binding position is the middle of the left side of the banknote. Although this sealing method is simple and direct, it will cause damage to the face of the banknote, such as the 45 kyat banknote issued by Myanmar in 1987 is encapsulated with a "staple model", it can be clearly seen that the knife banknote has been yellowed and spotted due to improper storage in the later period, and the staple on the left side has long been rusted.
Many foreign currency collectors are also helpless in the face of the "staple model" encapsulated foreign currency "knife goods", on the one hand, this knife banknote is not circulated factory condition, on the other hand, this knife banknote has been bound, if the whole knife collection, the staple on the left side is likely to slowly rust, and then affect the quality of all banknotes, if you open a single collection, then there will be two small holes on the left side of all banknotes, that is, the eye of the staple needle, which is really frustrating and helpless. The Indian Rs 500 note shown in this photo is uncirculated and clean, but has four visible pinholes on the left side, some of which are rusty.
Many people in countries that use "staple models" to encapsulate banknotes are influenced by this, and they often use pins to pin the banknotes in their pockets together and open the pins to access them when needed. As the number of times in circulation increases, there will be more and more pinholes on these banknotes, and even worse, more than 30 small holes (pinholes) will be pierced in one banknote, and the whole banknote can be described as unrecognizable.
Today, more and more countries have phased out this packaging model and switched to the "waist seal" packaging model, while calling on people to develop the habit of using wallets to store banknotes in their lives.
Coin type encapsulation
● Encapsulation terminology
In life, there are three common units of quantity for coins: "piece", "roll" and "box". Among them, "piece", also known as "piece", is the smallest unit of quantity of a coin, that is, one or one coin. The number of a reel of coins and a box of coins is not fixed. Canada's 2023 "Hurricane Queen" Elsie McGill (1905-1980) theme color version and regular edition commemorative coins are both 25 pieces in a volume. Although the commemorative coins issued in 2017 and the Peking Opera art commemorative coins issued in 2023 are both five rolls and one box, the former is 40 pieces per volume, and the latter is 20 pieces per volume. The 1 yuan coin that we use frequently every day is 50 pieces per roll and 10 rolls per box.
In addition, depending on the encapsulation mode, the number of coins can also be expressed in "bags", which are usually 100 pieces per bag.
●Encapsulation mode
One is rolling.
When a coin leaves the mint, if it is rolled into a roll of kraft paper, it is called a roll. The roll is not only convenient for counting, but also avoids collisions between coins. Among the coins currently issued in the mainland, whether they are circulating coins or all kinds of commemorative coins, they are all in rolls, and the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada and other countries also encapsulate the coins in rolls.
The second is bagging.
When a coin leaves the mint, it is bagged if it is sealed in a fixed number in plastic pouches. For example, the Polish 1 grossi coin is packed in a bag, and the bag has the words "1 grossi coin, 100 coins = 1 zloty" written in Polish. At present, roll packaging is still the mainstream method used to seal coins in various countries, and relatively few countries use bagged packaging to seal coins.
(Courtesy of the author)
(Editor in charge: Hou Haoyi)