My new collection: currency identifiers

It was by accident that I ended up with a collection of currency identifiers. Let me explain. Recently I started to research accessible currencies for people with visual impairment. It didn’t take long to figure out that it will not make much sense on a theoretical level, because reading about it is one thing, but if I wanted to really understand accessible currency, I had to get my hands on a few.

Thus, I started to get a few different currencies with dots and other marks. The next part of the research was alternative identification of currency, when a bill is not identifiable by touch only. There are several methods, I wrote about it when I described how blind people recognize currency. You will also find pictures of some of the identifiers there.

The topic just fascinated me, and before I knew, I had a pile of different tools from many countries which blind people use to recognize currency.

Then the next logical step was to download all kinds of apps and software which uses information technology to use the same, so now I also have a pile of apps to recognize currency. Now my research makes more sense, and in the meantime I have developed an interest for a collection that is relatively hard to categorize. Fortunately I don’t have to, I just need to enjoy it.

If you have any money identifiers and you would be willing to part with it, please let me know.

Here are a few pieces from my collection:

The iBill recognizes US currency and is free for all people with a reading disability in the United States. Canada also uses a version of it, though the Canadian currency also has tactile marks.

The Note Teller is a device which was used before the iBill, it was less widely used. There are two versions I am aware of, one is for US currency, and one for Canadian currency. This one is the US version.

This identifier card takes advantage of the different bank note sizes. While telling bank notes apart with small size difference is rather difficult by touch, using this card helps to determine the exact length of a bank note.

It is the same concept from India, though as there are different bank note series in India, this card will only work with some of the bank notes. When I was in India, I met the person who designed this identifier.