Source: Stuff
For most of us, seeing her face on our cash is the closest we get to the Queen.
But with Queen Elizabeth II no longer occupying her long-held position as New Zealand’s head of state, what happens now to the image of her head on our cash?
Queen Elizabeth II has appeared on the “heads” side of New Zealand coins since 1953 but did not appear on banknotes until 1967, when the Reserve Bank printed its third series of banknotes, this time decimal currency.
A Reserve Bank spokesperson says a change of sovereign makes no immediate difference to the use, acceptance or status of existing currency.
It said, in the 1970s, it wasn’t unusual to find coins up to 40 years old in change, some still bearing the images of King George V and King George VI, who died in 1936 and 1952 respectively.
That $20 bill you might have in your wallet is still just as valid as it was last week – and you’ll continue to see notes just like it for quite a while to come.
Cash will not be removed from circulation just because it shows the Queen. But it will gradually move out as notes reach the end of their life and new orders are brought in. Read more…