Spanish €5 (First Series) The five euro note (€5) is the lowest value euro banknote and has been used since the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002. The note is used in the 22 countries which have it as their sole currency (with 20 legally adopting it); with a population of about 332 million.

It is the smallest note measuring 120 x 62mm. and has a grey colour scheme. The five euro banknotes depict bridges and arches/doorways in Classical architecture (up to the fifth century).

The five euro note contains several complex security features such as watermarks, invisible ink, holograms and microprinting that document its authenticity.

As of June 2013, there were approximately 1,599,681,000 €5 notes in circulation around the Eurozone.That is approximately €7,998,405,200 worth of banknotes.

This series has been replaced by Europa Series (also known as Second Series) on 2 May 2013.

SIGNATURE



Banknotes printed from 2004 to 2012 show the signature of the second president of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet.

SERIAL NUMBER
V is the country code for Spain.

PRINTER
M - Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre, Madrid, Spain
012 - Printing plate number
B - Row 2
1 - Column 1

The printing code has an initial letter, followed by three digits, then by a single letter, and ending in a digit. The initial letter identifies the printing facility. The three digits state sequential printing plates. The fifth character, a letter and sixth character, a number, represent the row and column, respectively, of the particular banknote on the particular plate.

INITIALS

The notes also carry the initials of the European Central Bank in five linguistic variants, covering all official languages of the EU in 2002(the time of the banknote introduction), and now 19 out of 24 official languages of the EU28, in the following order:

• BCE (Spanish: Banco Central Europeo, French: Banque centrale européenne, Italian: Banca centrale europea, Portuguese: Banco Central Europeu, Irish: Banc Ceannais Eorpach; now also Romanian: Banca Centrală Europeană)
• ECB (English: European Central Bank, Danish: Europæiske Centralbank, Dutch: Europese Centrale Bank, Swedish: Europeiska centralbanken; now also Czech: Evropská centrální banka, Lithuanian: Europos Centrinis Bankas, Latvian: Eiropas Centrālā banka, Slovakian: Európska centrálna banka, Slovene: Evropska centralna banka)
• EZB (German: Europäische Zentralbank)
• ΕΚΤ (Greek: Ευρωπαϊκή Κεντρική Τράπεζα)
• EKP (Finnish: Euroopan keskuspankki; Estonian: Euroopa Keskpank)