We have, as I noted in the last post, been putting banknotes on eBay.
There are a lot of notes in the shops, ranging from serious notes for collectors to cheap and cheerful bulk lots.
Austro-Hungarian Empire – early 20th entury
I work with two keen banknote collectors. I always admire enthusiasts, and respect their immense knowledge on the subject, but really can’t get enthused by talk of serial numbers, replacements and security printing. If I was going to collect notes I’d probably collect them by theme, such as notes with pictures of birds on them. I like birds.
However, I prefer burgers, and that would be a very small collecting field.
Republic of Biafra 1967-70 – a short and tragic story
Some notes are spectacular, either because of the quality of design, or the history of the note or country. Others are very dull. You will probably see several of each sort in the pictures, though it has to be said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
It’s a very simple way of touring the world and it has one advantage over many other forms of collecting in that you can, when handling circulated notes, get a fairly strong whiff of foreign bazaars and sweaty hands.
Guyana
Years ago I had a delivery of foreign notes in an antique centre and as soon as the wrapping paper came off several neighbouring dealers turned green and ran off spluttering.
Atmospheric selection of notes from Ghana
So, for atmosphere , circulated notes are the thing to collect. But if you are looking for beauty, collect uncirculated notes.
Bhutan – nice and clean, with dragons
If you have any to spare, especially English ones, I can find a home for them.
I will bear that in mind.
It really is amazing what people will collect.
I heard on TV that when an American airline stopped printing their logo on their sick bags they saved a fortune as people no longer took them away for their collections. Just saying. 🙂
What. The. Heck. We really are an odd species, aren’t we?
🙂 You can say that again.
Fascinating. A local pub has lots of different notes on the wall – I expect it is not the only one.
They do make great decorations. We have some in stock – easily told by the colour, the pinholes and the faint scent of tobacco. 🙂
The designs are interesting, Quercus. That is quite a collection.
Yes, it’s a world tour, an education and a lesson in design all in one. 🙂 Not enough cats for some tastes though…
Have you seen this one?
https://youtu.be/1A4NtnH8pZg
Very amusing to watch, but I can feel those claws! 🙂