The Changing Color of Money:European Currency Iconography and Collective Id... Jacques E C Hymans European Journal of International Relations;Mar 2004;10,1:ABI/INFORM Global pg.5 The Changing Color of Money:European Currency Iconography and Collective Identity JACQUES E.C.HYMANS Smith College This article investigates currency iconography as an indicator of the content of collective identities in Europe.Using an original database of the human figures on European paper money since the 19th century, the article finds a combination of iconographic similarity across space and iconographic difference across time.This finding suggests that rather than using the currency to indoctrinate the public with a set of spccifically national values,European state clites have traditionally tried to use the currency to enhance their public legitimacy by embracing the values currently fashionable in pan-European society.The article then draws out the implications of this argument for understanding the iconography of the euro and the prospects for a European 'demos'. KEY WORDS◆European monetary unification◆iconography◆ identity◆international norms◆noney◆values 1.Introduction A descriptive analysis of banknotes is needed.The unlimited satirical force of such a book would be equaled only by its objectivity.For nowhere more naively than in these documents does capitalism display itself in solemn earnest.(Walter Benjamin,quoted in Taylor,1992:143) Much of the literature on national identity construction portrays it as a process involving conscious efforts by state elites to inculcate the mass public with values likely to serve state interests,such as the honor and distinctive- ness of the nation and the dignity of those who sacrifice their lives in its cause (see,e.g.Gellner,1983;Hobsbawm,1990).Recently,social scientists European Journal of International Relations Copyright 2004 SAGE Publications and ECPR-European Consortium for Political Research,Vol.10(1):5-31 D0L:10.1177/1354066104040567] Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.Further reproduction prohibited without permission.Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Changing Color of Money: European Currency Iconography and Collective Id... Jacques E C Hymans European Journal of International Relations; Mar 2004; 10, 1; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 5