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 specifically national values, European state elites 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’.
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