An introduction to the world of polymer bank notes

By Stane Štraus

The beginning and the end of Tyvek® bank notes

This chapter discusses early polymer bank notes, which have been developed by du Pont and American Bank Note Company in late 1970s and early 1980s, completely independently from the Australian research project. ABNC's 1981 Annual Report features 38 intaglio vignettes on Tyvek® covers with the description: »The cover is printed on a special type of du Pont's patented Tyvek®, a spun-bonded olefin sheet made of polyethylene fibrils. This particular Tyvek® is the result of a joint development program of du Pont and American Bank Note Company. [...] A joint research program of American Bank Note Company and the du Pont Company has recently culminated in a significant new development: the adaptation of du Pont's Tyvek® for use as an alternative material for low-denomination coin and currency. The superior durability and other advantages of Tyvek® make it likely that it will enjoy wide acceptance.« ABNC's 1983 promotional brochure features 14 intaglio vignettes on Tyvek® and explains: »The development of the United States is chronicled in the vignettes engraved by American Bank Note Company for stock certificates. Some examples appear on the flyleaf at right, which is printed on du Pont Tyvek®. This particular type of Tyvek® was jointly developed by du Pont and American Bank Note Company for use in currency and other security documents. [...] An intensive research and development program conducted jointly by American Bank Note Company and the du Pont Company has succeeded in adapting a special variety of du Pont's Tyvek® for use as an alternative material for low-denomination coin and currency. We recently completed an arduous field test in the Republic of Haiti, in which one million of low-denomination Haitian bank notes printed by American Bank Note Company on Tyvek® were used in circulation. This test was so successful that Haiti has converted all the denominations of its currency to Tyvek®. Other countries are also beginning to use Tyvek® for their currencies.« ABNC's 1984 promotional brochure again features 7 intaglio vignettes on Tyvek® and states: »Our research efforts have yielded new ways of producing traditional documents. An outstanding example is our development, with the du Pont Company, of Tyvek® Certibond, an alternative material for low-denomination currency and coin. In a field test conducted by Haiti, Tyvek® Certibond bank notes in actual circulation lasted over three times as long as their paper counterparts. We are now printing all standard denominations of Haiti's currency on a further improved form of Tyvek® Certibond. Costa Rica and the Isle of Man recently placed orders for Tyvek® Certibond notes, and we are actively discussing the possibility of such orders with several other countries.«

ABNC printed trial notes on Tyvek® for the following countries: Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, the Isle of Man, Venezuela, and there might be others. It remains unclear whether these Tyvek® trials have been offered to respective monetary authorities for their eventual approval. From my 1999 correspondence with the Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador and Banco Central de Venezuela, I assume that they are not aware of any Tyvek® experiments with their bank notes. Only Haiti (1980), Costa Rica (1983), and the Isle of Man (1983) (the latter bank notes were printed by BWC on Bradvek substrate, which is a type of Tyvek®) have decided to issue Tyvek® notes. It is known that the Tyvek® bank notes of Costa Rica have been printed and delivered to the Central Bank of Costa Rica by ABNC at no cost as ABNC wanted to popularise the technology; it is unclear whether this was also the case with Haiti and the Isle of Man. The combined issue for all three countries is estimated at cca. 29 million notes. This is an exceedingly small issue (for comparison, the initial print run in 2004 for Malaysia RM5 polymer bank note was 80 million notes) and as polymer notes expand even further, these examples of early polymer technology are bound to become scarcer and highly sought after.

Why Tyvek® bank notes were dismissed soon after their initial release is probably best explained in the 1988 Isle of Man Treasury Press Release (excerpts): »The change over four years ago from paper to plastic attracted a great deal of international media attention, most of the comment being favourable. During the four years since then the new material seems to have found general acceptance and favour with the Manx public, although there has been some criticism. From a technical view point the note has only been a moderate success. Certainly the note has great durability, but inkwear/adhesion may not be as good as on a conventional rag paper note. This may however simply be a reflection on the notes' greater average life. Also there have been some problems with the plastic substrate itself. These aspects may not be so important to a larger country but in the Island the policy has been to recognise our notes as excellent off Island ambassadors and to therefore maintain a clean-note policy. The condition of the bulk of the present Tyvek® notes in circulation is not consistent with this clean-note policy. In February 1986 the company previously printing Manx Government notes was sold to Thomas De La Rue and Company Limited. At the same time the former owners withdrew both the technical support for and the supplies of Tyvek® 919, the material used in producing the plastic one Pound notes. After an unsuccessful search for a technically sound and cost effective alternative to Tyvek®, Treasury reluctantly agreed to abandon the plastic note.« Furthermore, comments provided by the IOM Treasury in 1999 regarding Tyvek® notes state: »Ink wear was a problem before the plastic degraded. Tendering for the note corners to delaminate. Security features are not available, therefore only suitable for low denominations.« A report on Haiti's currency of unknown date and origin describes the condition of Tyvek® bank notes in circulation: »... some 100 Gourdes notes are plastic, faded, smeared and look like forgeries ...« It is also known that Costa Rica experienced problems with their Tyvek® notes as many reports indicate that splitting the notes into two 'half-notes' was a popular pastime. It appears that Tyvek® notes have been experiencing serious problems with inkwear and delamination, which eventually led to their dismissal. The issue of Tyvek® bank notes ceased in early 1988, when the Isle of Man Treasury issued the last remaining stock of Tyvek® notes—ending eight years of issue in three different countries. These early polymer bank notes represent a distinct bank note technology as they left no impact on subsequent polymer issues.