Niongor shilling
| Niongor shilling | |
| Niongôrse-shilling (Kanadese) | |
| Code | NIS |
| User(s) | .PNG){kind=small} Niongor
|
| Inflation | 1.4% |
| Sub-unit 1/100 |
penny |
| Symbol penny |
S, Sh. or $ p |
| Coins | 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, Sh. 1, Sh. 2 |
| Banknotes | Sh. 5, Sh. 10, Sh. 20, Sh. 50, Sh. 100 |
| Central Bank | Niongôrse-Reserwebank (NRB) Reserve Bank of Niongor |
| Printer | Banknoot Bedruker van Niongôr Banknote Printer of Niongor |
| Mint | Volkstaatse-Mint Commonwealth Mint |
The Niongor shilling (sign: Sh. or $; code NIS) is the currency of the Commonwealth of Niongor. It is divisible into 100 pennies (sign: p).
Contents |
History
The Commonwealth shilling was introduced in 1901, coinciding with the federation of the Commonwealth of Niongor. It replaced the Niongor rand as legal tender at a rate of 2 rand = 1 shilling. The name of the currency and its sub-unit were partly derived from their being written and said the same in both Kanadese and English. In 1943 it was renamed the Niongor shilling.
Coins
When first introduced, coins where in denominations of ½, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 pennies and 1 shilling. In 1981 the ½ penny was withdrawn from circulation. Twenty years later in 2001 a new 2 shilling coin was introduced.
Banknotes
First series
The first series of shilling banknotes was introduced in 1901 in denominations of 5, 10 and 20 shillings. In 1921 the 50 shilling banknote was introduced. They bore images of various historical figures, as well as various animals and landscapes from Niongor. The banknotes were entirely written within Kanadese.
Second series
Since 1969 banknotes have had Kanadese and English written on both sides with two variants, the first placing the Kanadese first and the second variant placing English first. This practice has continued to the present day.
Polymer series
In 1990, the Reserve Bank of Niongor issued polymer 100 shilling banknote. The new polymer notes were met with a mixed reaction, but their security features and difficulty to counterfeit spurred on the Reserve Bank to introduced a new polymer series in 1991. The 100 shilling note was continued in the new series.
Second polymer series
A new series was ordered in 2006. It continues in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 shillings. It has additional and advanced security features, making the Niongor shilling one of the hardest currencies in Canada to counterfeit.
Symbol
The Niongor shilling does not have an official symbol to represent it, thus there is some debate over which symbol should be used to represent the currency in short form. The most commonly used symbol, or rather abbreviation, is Sh. which is used throughout Niongor. It is occassionally written Sh. In the English-speaking communities and areas $ is now in common use, having been adopted sometime in the 1950s.
There is no official Commonwealth government policy on which symbol should be used, as in reports containing monetary values, the government always uses the long form of the word, i.e. writing "shillings" instead of Sh. or $. In 1995, when asked about the issue, President Rikhaard Licht said, "People should use whichever they prefer." Since 2006, government reports have began using Sh. as the abbreviation/symbol for the shilling.
In the 1986 Vos Kapitaal, then Niongor's largest bank, decided to break with both Sh. and $ by introducing the use of a single letter S as the symbol for the shilling. This was implemented across all its banks and for a time it was widely used.
Currently, the majority of the country appears to use the Sh. or Sh abbreviation, with $ being widespread in East Coast and S still being found in some areas of West Cape and the Federal Capital Territory.
Criticism
Several prominent individuals and corporations have criticised the lack of a definite symbol for the currency, stating it is a waste of time to continuously write "shillings" out in full. Current president Sebastiaan Kobus was one of the people to criticise the lack of a definite symbol when he was Governor of East Northland. He has stated a personal preference for Sh. as, in his opinion, the $-symbol is "too indistinctive and common".
