1949 Central Bank Seal
1993 Central Bank Seal
BANKNOTE COLLECTING
Notaphily for Fun, Profit, and Enligtenment
This exciting hobby - known by some as notaphily - is growing in popularity for many reasons. For one thing it's becoming increasinglyh easy to find interesting and attractive banknotes from around the world - notes with considerable historical, cultural and visual appeal - and often for only a few cents each. A banknote collection can be a fine investment. Manyt notes have been growing dramatidally in value in recent years. The hobby is a great educator. Besides notaphilic concerns, it has something to teach everyone about foreign cultures, history, economics - and plenty more. As communications technology brings the global village ever closer, it becomes ever more advantageous to have a rich knowledge of foregin affairs and cultures. It's amazing how much knowledge of this kind you naturally absorb while enjoying his hobby. Above all, people like banknotes for their visual appeal. A papermoney collection is an art collection of the highest order. Banknotes are perhaps the finest pieces of printing and graphic design to be found anywhere. An incredible amount of work and thought goes into their design, by artist and engravers of exceptional skill. The design and manufacturing process is a field of study in itself. Some of the methods used are kept secret, to make forgery more difficult. A well-presented collection of historic world banknotes and/or checks makes a conversation piece that arouses the curiosity and admiration of all.
As collector's items, banknotes have some important advantages over stamps and coins. For one thing, they have a much larger surface area, making them a better vehicle for interesting information and attractive artwork. Compared to a coin, a banknote is extremely lightweight and thin, making a large collection easier to store and transport. Over the postage stamp, the banknote has the advantage of having two sides, and again, a much larger surface area. Generally, they are also less prone to forgery.
Banknote enthusiasts enjoy individualist status because the hobby is regarded as intriguingly different. It has certain prestige attached to it; people tend to assume that a banknote collector must be wealthy - although this is often far from true. The hobby also has a refreshing dignity to it. The banknote collecting is basically an honest, friendly, community, with the genial camarederie born of a common interest.
Notaphily is still much less widespread than stamp and coin collecting, although the gap is narrowing. Now there are numerous paper money collecting societies, world-wide, and a wide choice of books on the subject. Many stamp and coin collectors are turning to currency collecting as the promising new collecting frontier. In paper money they discover a renewed thrill at finding the elusive item to filla gap in a series or a set. They experience anew, the reverence one feelsabout owning something that has been preserved in perfect condition for a hundred years. There is the same satisfaction of travelling to a collector's fair to hunt down bargains and meet fellow enthusiast and develop one's knowledge.
The ever-growing availability of cheap and varied material from around the world has already brought the hobby well within reach of even those on the tightest budget. This is one collecting field where prices are actually falling in may areas, mainly where new issues are concerned. For this, we can thank the effects of inflation. In comparison to the United Kingdom, many countries have steep inflation rates, making their currency sink in value in relation to our own. Thus, their currency notes become ever cheaper for us. Some typical cases from recent years include Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Russia, Mexico, Zaire,Iraq, Yugoslavia and Turkey. In fact, we can even obtain notes with denominations of 50,000,000,000 or more for a dollar or two! Another exciting source of very cheap notes has recently emerged: the new ex-Soviet republics. Here is an opportunity to obtain the very first issues of several new republics for mere pennies. One can only imagine the value these first issues will have to collectors in future years.
For under $1 each, you can obatain some beautiful, older notes from earlier this century - the goldenage of banknote design. Germany and Hungary for example, both suffered runaway inflation in the first half of this century, rendering their banknotes less valuable than the paper they were printed on insome cases. Nevertheless, they were wonderful examples of the engraver's art. Even notes from the early 1700's can still be bought for well under $20 - the Assignat notes of the French Revolution, for example.
Conversely, serious collectors world-wide, pay large sums of money for single rare notes.Sometimes this will be to fill a gap in a valuable collection. Sometimes it will be for investment. Sometimes it will be with a view to passing the item on to a fellow collector or dealer - for an even higher price. Collectable banknotes are one field where real bargains and quick profits can be made - if you know what to look for. Experience will soon teach you this. It's a good idea to obtain a comprehensive and up-to-date value-guide pertaining to the type of paper money you collect. For a general guide, the most comprehensive publication is the Standard Catalog of World paper Money, which comes in three volumes. The volume you select will depend on yourarea of interest. This extensive tome gives the valuations for each of the many thousands of banknotes issued world-wide since the dawn of paper money history. For each one note, it gives two or three appraisals, corresponding to various grades of condition.For more information, orto order,go to our books for sale page.
A banknote collection is an expression of its owner'spersonal tastes and interest. There are not set rules regarding collecting themes; you can be as individuslistic as you like. Some collectors specialize in notes from one country only - often their own. Some collecto from groups of countries; British Commonwealth, Europe, or Africa, for example.Others collect notes fromone period in history - WW2 for example. Others collect notes with some rare peculiarity, like those with printer's errors. Some collect forgeries. The scopeis limited only by your imagination. Many collectors start out ljust buying anything that happens to appeal. Then as the years pass, they often tend to become more specialised. A specialised collection has a unique value and appeal. It can often be sold for more than the combined values of its individual components. However, the pitfall of becoming too specialised is that suitable material will be lharder to find and often much more expensive. But why not compile a specialised collection while simultaneously building a more general, free-style one?
The potential of historic paper money as an alternative investment has been evident over the years. Some items have seen a growth in value of 10,000% since the end of the last war! American Confederate States notes and other 19th Century US bills for example, could then be bought for about 25c each in the USA. Now, they are hard to find for 100 times that amount. Even the indiscriminate collector can expect profit in the long-run, for most collectable banknotes tend to rise in value. Scarcity, and demands, are the factors which govern value, and banknotes are only produced in limited numbers. After production of each note ceases, it can only become increasinly scarce.
Sometimes banknotes soar in value due to historic events. For example: Hong Kong notes have been selling for double or triple the book value since 1997, due to the Chinese take-over. Many collectors were easily able to predict this in advance, and many took a successful gamble and bought up every Hong Kong note they could find. Let's face it, a 300% in twelve months is far better than any stock market investor can hope for. Remember the recent volcano in Monserrat? One month, Monserrat notes were just as desirable as any other East Carribean State banknote. As soon as the volcano rendered the island unihabitable, the shrewd dealers of the world bought every Monserrat note they couldfind, knowing that it was unlikely that any more would be printed.
If a banknote collector suffers less fortunate circumstances, he has a valuable nest egg instore,which he can sell at one of the specialist collectors' auctions - often at a good profit. Many collections, however, are passed on, to a son, a daughter or a grandchild. The banknote collection makes a great family heirloom, for besides being a thing if monetary value, it is a gold-mine of fascination and discovery, while at the same time conveing something of the spirit of the compiler. Every collection reflects something of the compiler's personality.