Nigerian Artist Perfectly Recreates Old Maltese Banknote In Painstaking Detail
It’s now been a decade since the old Maltese Lira gave way to the Euro, and stumbling upon old currency keeps getting rarer. Some people might have even forgotten what the old banknotes look like, but if that’s the case, one Nigerian artist has made it way easier to go back in time.
Ezeanyika Anthony Chibuzor is a pencil artist who recreates photos to the most minute details. A couple of years ago, he embarked on an ambitious project like no other; drawing all the world’s banknotes with two pencils. He’s been sharing hundreds of photos of his work on Instagram since 2014, and eventually, he’s made it to the Maltese Lira.
Choosing the Lm20 note, Anthony first shared a photo of the note in the process of being drawn a couple of days before the final product. Eventually, the complete banknote was also shared, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. The attention to detail, as expected, is something out of this world.
So far, Anthony has drawn up to 170 different banknotes from around the world.
“The Global Currency Project is designed to acknowledge all the currency notes in the world through pencil drawing,” he said in an Instagram post. “This means that, through exhibitions, different people can identify with their currency to bring unity of different culture and their history.”
Everything from Macedonia to Nicaragua are featured on Anthony’s Instagram page TonyArtworks, and every single banknote is recreated with an insane amount of detail. Were it not for the fact that these are ultimately pencil drawings on pieces of paper, you could probably pay use these babies as actual currency.
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