1
Spesmilo
in Year 1 of Empress Sofia's reign
The ISO 4217 currency code for the Artoonian spesmilo is AVS. The currency symbol is ₷ (ſ for spesoj), which is written before the numbers. A period decimal point is used to offset the spesoj. (When the ₷ symbol is unavailable in a typeface, it is conventional to use a plain capital S. If the ſ symbol is unavailable, a lowercase f or a forward slash / is advised to avoid confusion between capital and lowercase S.)
Spesmiloj are issued by the Imperiabanko in the following denominations:
Banknotes: ₷1,000,000; ₷10,000; ₷1,000; ₷500; ₷100; ₷50; ₷25; ₷10; ₷5; ₷2
Coins: ₷10; ₷2; ₷1; ſ500; ſ250; ſ100; ſ50; ſ25; ſ10; ſ5.
(Both coins and banknotes are available in ₷10 and ₷2 denominations, but the coins are rarely used in circulation.
(Coins are made of cupronickel, with ſ500 - ₷10 coins are alloyed with their equivalent amount of gold; ſ250 and ſ100 are alloyed with with equivalent silver. All notes are redeemable for gold or silver bullion at any bank.) All coin edges are ridged -- a common misconception is that this is to prevent shaving, but because it is so easy for Artoonians to legally obtain gold and silver from their local bank, this practice is not worth the time and effort it would take -- the ridges are solely intended to make handling the coins easier.
Electronic transactions are computed to the single speso, while cash transactions are rounded to the nearest ſ5 (smaller values are considered too trifling to mint).
Banknotes are printed in various shades of green, red, and blue (higher denominations in darker shades). ₷1,000,000 notes feature a portrait of Isaac Newton; ₷10,00 of William Shakespeare; ₷1,000 of Galileo; ₷500 of John Locke; ₷100 of Wolfgang Mozart; ₷50 of Thaddeus Kosciusko; ₷25 of Edward Jenner; ₷10 of Marie Curie; ₷5 of Ludwig Zamenhof; ₷2 of the Empress. The reverse of each feature nature scenes from around Artoonia.
Coins all feature a portrait of the Emperor/Empress on the obverse, the reverses feature St. George slaying the Dragon on the ₷10; the Imperial Palace on the ₷2; a penguin on the ₷1; a fox on the ſ500; an honeybee on the ſ250; a daffodil on the ſ100; a pistachio nut on the ſ50; a garb of barley on the ſ25; an apple on the ſ10; and an Artoonian Cross on the ſ5.
As of 1 October 2020, the approximate exchange rates to ₷1 were:
$23.80 USD
$31.65 CAD
£18.37 GBP
€20.32 EUR
₣21.90 CHF
¥252.50 JPY
¥161.88 CNY
₿0.00225 XBT
(As both are pegged to the price of gold, ₷1 will always equal 0.125 Krugerrands.)
Foreigners travelling in Artoonia should be aware of two seemingly-contradictory cultural phenomena: Artoonias take great pride in their gold currency, and privately look down on other countries' fiat currencies; however, they also love money and will gladly accept foreign currency, albeit at a discounted rate. Inflation is virtually non-existent; an Artoonia adage holds that "a spesmilo buys a bushel of apples" (a single apple is depicted on the reverse of the ſ10 coin proportionally). While the traveller with American dollars, British pounds, or euros can probably spend them at most businesses, it is advisable to exchange one's money at a bank upon arrival (because the price of gold usually rises in relation to foreign currency over time, one's spesoj will probably be worth more when departing, and banks will exchange it back to foreign currency at no charge).
