Was my €100 banknote ever issued? 0

[GrahamA]

Good evening everyone and thank you in advance for any information or advice given in response to my question. I have in my possession a first issue €100 banknotes with a W country code on the prefix. After trying myself to acquire the information, all I can find is that the letter W was set aside for when Denmark join the Eurozone which they haven’t as yet. My question is, would this banknote have been printed for Denmark just in case they decided to join before the notes were officially released. Is it one that maybe wasn’t put out for general circulation. It’s in absolutely fabulous condition. 
Again, many thanks in advance. 
Kindest Regards 

Graham

[Fenntucky Mike]

On 1/4/2022 at 3:28 PM, GrahamA said:

Good evening everyone and thank you in advance for any information or advice given in response to my question. I have in my possession a first issue €100 banknotes with a W country code on the prefix. After trying myself to acquire the information, all I can find is that the letter W was set aside for when Denmark join the Eurozone which they haven’t as yet. My question is, would this banknote have been printed for Denmark just in case they decided to join before the notes were officially released. Is it one that maybe wasn’t put out for general circulation. It’s in absolutely fabulous condition. 
Again, many thanks in advance. 
Kindest Regards 

Graham

Well I have no idea where this came from, as you said not much information out there for this. I would say it is definitely not a note intended for circulation, I'm wondering if it's some sort of error or released as some sort of commemorative/fantasy note. You could try posting this in the ask PMG section of the Forum, maybe Jennifer can help you out.

How did you come by them?

[GrahamA]

I purchased some Euros from a friend that had been to Spain and this was amongst them. It was in amazing condition so I decided not to use it. Thank you for your reply though. I will try what you have suggested. 
Kindest Regards 

[Fenntucky Mike]

Forgot one other possibility, it could be a forgery. Doesn't look like it, but a possibility at any rate. I'm assuming everything checks out on the note including the security features. 

This could be a pretty good find, keep us posted if you make any progress on what this note is and where is came from. Good luck. 

[GrahamA]

No it has all its security features in place as they should be. I’ve checked out everything and I’m 99.99% sure it’s legitimate but I cannot find out about the serial number. I have emailed the Danish Embassy in London and asked the question as to wether any Euro banknotes were produced with the expectation of Denmark joining the Eurozone before they had a referendum and voted against it. All the websites I have looked at regarding this all say that the letter W is set aside for Denmark should they vote to join in the future. 

[Fenntucky Mike]

I read what Jennifer wrote about your note, too bad.  

So, does the hologram on this note differ from other first series €100 notes in your opinion?

[GrahamA]

No I don’t know what to say. It’s very difficult to get a good shot of the hologram. There is something that concerns me and that is there is a small section of one of the zeros missing on the 100 in the hologram. It would have picked up on QC I believe. 
The only other thing that concerned me was, if it is such a good quality forgery, why would they make such a silly mistake as to giving it a W prefix when none exist!!!!!

That to me just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I am awaiting a reply from the note manufacturers as to the serial number. If it turns out that it is in fact a forgery then it’ll go into a frame and go on the wall in my loo  

 

[Fenntucky Mike]

On 1/10/2022 at 6:03 PM, GrahamA said:

The only other thing that concerned me was, if it is such a good quality forgery, why would they make such a silly mistake as to giving it a W prefix when none exist!!!!!

That to me just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

I was wondering that myself and the possible reasons I came up with were...Maybe there is some loophole where having the "W" prefix safeguards the manufacturer from prosecution, since the note was (presumably) never printed. These were printed to target collectors specifically. Or they used the "W" prefix accidentally,  or just because.  Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason for such things.

On 1/10/2022 at 6:03 PM, GrahamA said:

I am awaiting a reply from the note manufacturers as to the serial number.

I mean this not completely dead in the water, if the Danish embassy and the note manufacturer get back to you stating that these notes were produce and could have potentially entered circulation, then you still have a case. If that did happen my worry would be that if these were legitimately produced, they could be illegal to own since they were never intended for circulation. 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Fenntucky Mike
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