Faroese Banknotes 200 Krone banknote 2011
Obverse: The 200-krone banknote shows a motif of a ghost moth printed in intaglio. The background is a watercolour with blades of grass.
Reverse: The reverse of the banknote shows a watercolour of the island of Tindhólmur near Vágar with its characteristic peaks.
Signatures: High Commissioner: Dan Michael Knudsen, Minister of Finance: Aksel Vilhelmsson Johannesen. Wide windowed security thread at right on front. One 7-digit horizontal serial number at upper left on front and another one with 6 digits at lower left on front. OMRON-rings on both sides.
Watermark: Ram's head - Faroes sheep. The Faroes is a breed of domestic sheep native to the Faroe Islands. One of the Northern European short-tailed sheep, it is a small, very hardy breed. "Faeroe islands" means "sheep islands" and this animal is on Faroese coat of arms.
Format: 145 x 72 mm.
Printer: Banknote Printing Works and The Royal Danish Mint, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Faroese banknotes - Currency of the Faroe Islands
2011 Issue
The motifs are inspired by the Faroese landscape and fauna. The faces of the banknotes show fragments of fauna, while the reverse motifs are reproductions of watercolours of Faroese landscapes. The watercolours are by the Faroese artist Zacharias Heinesen. The motifs have been chosen, among other reasons, for their dissimilarity, so that the banknotes are easy to distinguish from each other. The fauna motifs are fragments, which gives the banknotes a vivid appearance. The watercolours lend a special quality of lightness to the banknotes.
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Ghost moth
The ghost moth (Hepialus humuli), also known as the ghost swift, is a moth of the family Hepialidae. It is common throughout Europe except for the far south-east. This species is often considered the only species in the genus Hepialus and a number of previously included species is now reclassified into other genera. However, other authorities retain a number of species in the Hepialus genus.
The male has a wingspan of about 44 mm and both forewings and hindwings are pure white (although in H. h. thulensis, found in Shetland and the Faroe Islands, there are buff-coloured individuals). The female is larger (wingspan about 48 mm) and has yellowish-buff forewings with darker linear markings and brown hindwings. The adults fly from June to August and are attracted to light. The species overwinters as a larva.
The ghost moth gets its name from the display flight of the male, which hovers, sometimes slowly rising and falling, over open ground to attract females. In a suitable location several males may display together in a lek.
The larva is whitish and maggot-like and feeds underground on the roots of a variety of wild and cultivated plants (see list below). The species can be an economically significant pest in forest nurseries.
The term ghost moth is sometimes used as a general term for all Hepialids.
Tindhólmur
Tindhólmur is an islet on the southside of Sørvágsfjørður, west of Vágar in the Faroe Islands. It has its name from the five peaks, which are named Ytsti, Arni, Lítli, Breiði, Bogdi (Farthest, Eagle, Small, Broad, Bent). The islet is uninhabited. It has 6500 m² (old Faroese style: 2 Merkur) and its highest point is 262 m.
According to legend, a family once lived on Tindhólmur. The family consisted of a man, a woman and a small child. One day while the father was on the sea fishing, an eagle came and snatched the child and took it to its nest on one of the peaks.
The mother - for love of her child - climbed all the way to the eagle's nest to rescue her child. Alas, when she reached the nest the eagle had plucked the child's eyes out. However, she was able to rescue the child, but unfortunately the child later died from the injuries. After that incident, the couple moved from the islet, and since that day no one has ever lived there.
The story is probably just a myth, but there are some interesting facts regarding it. One of the peaks on Tindhólmur is named The eagles' peak. Discoveries on the islet suggest that the islet has indeed been inhabited once.
Eiriksboði is a rocky formation stretching out from the islet.