The New Zealand ten-dollar note is a New Zealand banknote. It is issued by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and since 1999 has been a polymer banknote. It was first issued on 10 July 1967 when New Zealand decimalised its currency, changing from the New Zealand pound to the New Zealand dollar. The ten-dollar note originally had an image of Queen Elizabeth II on the front; since 1993 it has had an image of suffragist Kate Sheppard.
Design
There have been seven different series of New Zealand bank notes, and the ten-dollar note was introduced with the third series of bank note.
Third series (1967–1981) The first ten-dollar notes were issued alongside the first one-dollar, two-dollar, five-dollar, twenty-dollar, and one-hundred-dollar notes with the introduction of the New Zealand dollar on 10 July 1967. They were made of cotton-based paper. The design was selected by a six-person design committee appointed in 1964, which included Alexander McLintock, Stewart Bell Maclennan and Professor John Simpson, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury.
All the notes of this series had Queen Elizabeth II on the front, and a watermark of Captain James Cook. They also had a New Zealand bird and the plant most closely associated with that species on the back. The ten-dollar note had a blue background. On the back was a kea (a New Zealand parrot). The kea was perched on a mountain lily, which had large waxy flowers.
Fourth series (1982–1993) In late 1981 the Reserve Bank switched to a different printer which meant that new printing plates had to be made. The only changes with this series were minor drawing changes and an update to the portrait of Elizabeth II.
Fifth series (1993–1999) New Zealand's banknotes were completely re-designed in the 1990s to introduce uniquely New Zealand designs. Kate Sheppard, the most famous New Zealand suffragist, was now on the front of the ten-dollar note, next to a white camellia, a symbol for universal suffrage in New Zealand. A whio, an endangered species of New Zealand bird, was on the back. Between the portrait and the camellia was a map of New Zealand. The note had a light blue background with ferns. Another feature was the tukutuku patterning on the front, taken from the Te Hau ki Tūranga meeting house at Te Papa Museum.
The ten-dollar note was released in 1993 to mark the centennial of women getting the vote in New Zealand in 1893.
Sixth series (1999–2015) In 1999, New Zealand changed from paper banknotes to polymer banknotes. The change increased the life of the banknotes and also allowed new and improved security features to prevent counterfeiting. The overall design of the notes remained unchanged albeit for slight modifications for the new security features.
Seventh series (2015–present) A new ten-dollar note was released in October 2015 along with the newly designed five-dollar note, as part of the Series 7 banknote release (described by the Reserve Bank as the "Brighter Money" series). The remaining three banknote denominations ($20, $50, $100) in Series 7 were released in May 2016.
The new series was introduced in order to add more security features to New Zealand banknotes. As surveys showed that the New Zealand public were generally content with the note design, very few design changes were made, and the design remains substantially the same as the Series 5 design. The note was brighter in colour and featured the Māori translation of Reserve Bank (Te Putea Matua), and "New Zealand, Aotearoa" on the back.
The new five-dollar and ten-dollar notes filtered out slowly because the new notes were only issued as returned older notes came in. Polymer banknotes last four times as long as cotton banknotes, and many notes from the sixth series can still be found in circulation. As of August 2019, less than half of the $5 and $10 in circulation are these new type, with the sixth series notes still dominating.
Security features
New Zealand's banknotes incorporate many security features to prevent counterfeiting. The newer polymer banknotes have a distinctive plastic feel and should not tear easily.