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The Semiotics of Banknotes and Coins
Reading Contemporary Currency Design
The Semiotics of Banknotes and Coins
Reading Contemporary Currency Design
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Description
This book studies currency from a semiotic perspective, with a focus on how it reproduces and produces social meanings in the public sphere of the countries, and political organizations in the case of the EU, where it is used.
It analyses currencies from ten countries as text, in a broad sense, as defined by semiotics, with the purpose of rendering visible how they function as the material support for the construction of an idea of the nation in banal terms. The currencies studied are the Argentinean Peso, the Brazilian Real, the British Pound Sterling, the Canadian Dollar, and the Croatian Kuna, the Euro, the Mexican Peso, the Swiss Franc, the Uruguayan Peso and the U.S. Dollar.
Particular attention is paid to what were chosen for the design of the banknotes and coins of a number of countries including the local encyclopaedia, historical figures, national heroes, autochthonous animals, typical landscapes, and historical moments and episodes. Moreover, the book focuses on showcasing the type of cultural memory that the iconography selected by each country to design their banknotes and coins transmits, as well as the idea of national identity it constructs. The author studies the various possible semiotic strategies underlying the design of banknotes and coins from our present time through a semiotic study of their iconography. He argues that the iconography selected by the nation-state to design currency is not innocent or random, but rather meaning- and value-loaded.
The semiotic examination of the currencies of multiple countries allows us to extract some general conclusions regarding how money and currency can be the object of specific semiotic strategies revolving around the collective identity of a nation and the aspects of its cultural memory the State wants to bring to the fore as distinctive traits of that collective identity.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1. The Social Relevance of Currency, Or Why Studying Currency Design
2. Introducing Semiotics
3. Studying Currency Design using Semiotics
4. U.S. Dollar
5. Canadian Dollar
6. British Pound Sterling
7. Swiss Franc
8. Brazilian Real
9. Uruguayan Peso
10. Argentine Peso
11. The Euro
Conclusions
Notes
References
Index
Product details

Published | Nov 27 2025 |
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Format | Hardback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 288 |
ISBN | 9781350451360 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
Illustrations | 55 bw illus |
Dimensions | 9 x 6 inches |
Series | Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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A fascinating and insightful exploration of the hidden meanings embedded in currency design. Sebastián Moreno masterfully unveils the semiotic layers that shape our perception of money, culture, and national identity. A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of art, national history, and finance.
Kristian Bankov, Professor, New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria
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With all the potential confusion people encounter over finance, it is a pleasure to read such a pellucid analysis of money's material tokens. Moreno's semiotic investigation of banknotes and coins is exemplary in its clarity, convincingly showing how the often unconsidered items of quotidian economic exchange are bound up with issues of nationhood, heritage, memory and culture. The volume should be read by anyone who ever uses currency.
Paul Cobley, Emeritus Professor in Language and Media, Middlesex University, UK
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In addition to money serving as the language of commerce, Barreneche shows how throughout history the iconography of coin and paper money has played an important role in shaping our collective conceptualization of culture, politics, and society. In impressive detail, he vividly explains the meaning of the symbols decorating monies from across the globe. This is a fascinating, illuminating, and sometimes surprising book.
Carl Wennerlind , Professor of History, Columbia University, US