QR = Quick Response

The Royal Dutch Mint has produced what is the first QR coded coin to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the mint in Utrecht. The coins are limited edition, produced in silver as well as gold. The silver €5 and gold €10 were issued on June 22, 2011. Scanning the code directs you to http://www.q5g.nl/en/, where a memory game is being displayed (not the best possible idea).

Characteristics
  • Very special issue of the Mint Fiver in UNC quality
  • Numbered edition of only 2011 pieces
  • Packed in a special envelope with date and initials
  • Unique Collectible!

QR code is a high-density barcode, which we encounter everywhere in everyday life; on consumer goods, packaging, reight, business forms and even the test tubes from blood samples. Barcodes are used for logistics and inventory tracking and in manufacturing, healthcare, among many others. Because of its simple design, information can be easily scanned and quickly uploaded to a computer or a Point of Sale system.

Wallpaper with world's first QR coded coins from the Netherlands Dutch 5 and 10 euros 2011 coins with QR codes

QR codes, or Quick Response Codes, are those little black and white squiggly images cropping up more and more on books, fliers, cereal boxes, bus ads, grocery store display shelves, websites and even billboards. They are fairly new to North America but have been in use in Japan for years. Would you like to create your own QR codes? Check out Kaywa QR code generator.

They were created by Denso Wave, a Toyota subsidiary, as a solution to the limitation of the maximum of 20 digit barcodes we are all used to. Toyota needed something that would provide more information so it could more effectively track car parts. Denso Wave's QR Code can represent up to 7,089 numbers or 4,296 alphanumeric characters – way beyond the capability of a barcode. To maintain its practicality, it then cleverly discovered a way to shrink the physical image size of a QR Code by adding the ability, unlike a barcode, to store the data in two dimensions – both horizontally and vertically. This has blown open the doors to its potential uses.

QR Codes can be read by a dedicated scanner. However, with the advanced capabilities inherent in the iPhone and other smartphones, not only can they read the codes they can also create them using free or low cost downloadable apps like QuickMark – QR Code Reader, i-nigma QR Code, or QR Scanner.