On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:08:55 +0100, wrote:

"Phil Wieland" wrote in message
...

So the only countries that currently have plastic notes all get the
Australian mint to print them for them, so take up of these types of
notes has been limited to smaller Pacific rim counties that don't have
their own currency printing facilities or don't mind 'out sourcing' it to
Australia.

Doesn't the Isle of Man have plastic notes? Are theirs Australian as
well?

Not to my knowledge and not in my experience as I was there not too long
ago.

They had them in the 1980s, their main fault was that the ink came
off. One party trick was IIRC to put a 50p note in the oven and shrink
it.

They were made from Tyvek which was phonetically close to the Manx
Gaelic (thie-veg) for toilet/lavatory, thus "Tyvek paper" equated
closely enough for critics to "toilet paper". Unfortunately, the
aforementioned fault made them unsuitable for emergency use as such.

See also:-
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...ymer-banknotes