Rare 1892 Creede banknote goes up for auction

Its face value is $5, but an 1892 bank note issued by the National Bank of Creede could sell for $90,000 or more when it is auctioned next week [SB: 13 December 2012]. The extremely rare note is likely to generate a good deal of interest from collectors, especially those in Colorado, said Paul Song, director of coins and medals for the auctioneer, Bonhams of New York City. Song said Bonhams' value estimate of $70,000 to $90,000 is just an educated guess, because no other bank notes from the long-defunct Creede bank are known to exist.

If only more people cleaned up their attic we would have much more of these beauties available perhaps.

Source

© Bonhams

Steven Thursday 06 December 2012 at 08:19 am | | links | No comments
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Forgery with a kitchen tool

© Amazon.comDo you think you need state of the art equipment and the latest technology to counterfeit modern banknotes? Think again.

A home-made tool resembling a meat tenderiser is being used by counterfeiters to create a security feature on fake 100 yuan banknotes, police say after studying almost 4,000 of such bills seized this year. "An investigation found that an instrument with spikes was used to pound images of the counterfeit notes so that the bills would have an embossed effect," a police source said. (...) more bogus HK$1,000 bills were seized this year, police said. A total of 943 were seized in the first 10 months of the year, compared with 328 for the whole of last year and 220 in 2010. A total of 726 fake HK$100 notes was seized in the first 10 months of this year, compared with 1,806 for the whole of last year.

Source

Steven Thursday 06 December 2012 at 08:13 am | | links | No comments

The power of banknotes

A very nice article from South African writer Mlungisi Ngubeni which shows the symbolic power banknotes can have for a nation.

"Let these new banknotes be a symbol that the power of change lies in our hands and the power of prosperity for the country and the people lies in our hands."

Read the whole article on The Times website.

Steven Tuesday 27 November 2012 at 12:37 pm | | links | No comments
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New Spink auction coming up

Spink and SonOn December 13 Spink and Son will hold a new auction of world banknotes. A total of 741 lots with banknotes from all over the world is available to bid on. To be honest: the prices are a 'little' bit higher than on eBay. But the notes at Spink are indeed very rare and beautiful.

To me it's already a pleasure to flip through the catalogue which you can download here (pdf).

Steven Tuesday 20 November 2012 at 1:04 pm | | links | No comments
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Can Scottish notes be used in England or not?

Scottisch banknotesAccording to a recent study from forexcurrency.us 35% of all Britons believe you can't use Scottish banknotes in England. This is however not the case: in everyday transactions the notes can be used and will be accepted by retailers. The confusion probably comes from the use of the term "legal tender" as is being explained by The Telegraph:

As the Bank of England website clarifies, Scottish bank notes are technically not 'legal tender' in England, just as Bank of England notes are not in Scotland. However, the term 'legal tender' holds a very narrow, technical meaning in regards to debt settlement.

So when you do want to spend Scottish pounds in England, you are free to do so. Or collect them of course, as I did back in 1993 when I started my collection with a Scottish pound.

Steven Tuesday 20 November 2012 at 12:00 pm | | links | No comments
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Shady banknotes on display in Cornwall

A story from Cornwall:

Cornish bank notes issued by a notorious businessman known as the "Smugglers' Banker" are to go on display in Polperro after being sold at auction in London.(...)The lower denomination note, which went under the hammer at Spinks' sale-room in Russell Square, is signed by Zephaniah Job and dated 1818. Job, who was born in St Agnes and moved to Polperro in the 1770s, was an astute and wealthy entrepreneur. He helped his adopted community in a number of ways, including building its first school, but behind the veil of respectability lay a scheming free-trader. It was for this reason he earned the nickname of the "Smugglers' Banker". 

Full story.

One of Zephaniah Job's £5 notes.

Steven Saturday 17 November 2012 at 09:56 am | | links | No comments
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Banknotes reflect glory of nation state

Rare auction of Arab world currencies provides rich pictorial display of region's turbulent modern history. (...) Banknotes – sometimes dubbed the "calling cards of nation" – reflect changing political and economic fortunes across a century and a half of Middle Eastern history, the collapse of empires, war, revolution and unrest.

Nice article in The Guardian about the auction last week of the collection of banknotes from the Middle East by George Kanaan. Despite the fact that the auction has finished and that you have to login at auction house Spink to see past auctions, the catalogue is still freely available when you search Google for it: right here. (Via)

Steven Friday 12 October 2012 at 09:35 am | | links | No comments
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Traders favourite banknotes

CoinWeek has published a video shot during the last Paper Money Fair in Valkenburg, the Netherlands. A few traders comment on their favourite banknote. To be honest: they really are beautiful (the banknotes of course, not the traders). Some of the notes shown cost a small fortune to acquire but there are also some cheaper banknotes.

Video (with free 80's theme music!):

Steven Friday 12 October 2012 at 08:39 am | | links | No comments

Moneta for free

Moneta, the magazine of the Ottawa Numismatic Society, can be downloaded for free from now on. That also applies for back issues (they're in their third year at this moment). A very nice gesture for us collectors. A lot of the articles have to do with coins but occasionaly articles about (the much prettier) banknotes appear. 

Here is a summary of all articles ever written but you can also go straight to the following years: 2010, 2011 or 2012.

Steven Wednesday 04 July 2012 at 1:58 pm | | links | No comments
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Bestempelde Roebels

Een aardig artikel in de NRC over een oproep aan de Russen om anti-Poetinpropaganda op hun Roebels te stempelen. Een nieuw voorbeeld van hoe bankbiljetten voor andere doeleinden kunnen worden gebruikt dan waarvoor ze oorspronkelijk bedoeld zijn. Het artikel geeft ook een paar andere voorbeelden uit de geschiedenis zoals het voor verzamelaars bekende Franse 20 Francs-biljet dat als propaganda tegen Hitler werd gebruikt.

Tot slot nog een PDF dat in het artikel wordt genoemd waarin het onderwerp van bankbiljetten als propaganda verder wordt uitgediept en diverse voorbeelden te zien zijn.

Steven Tuesday 19 June 2012 at 11:45 am | | links | No comments

Spaargeld in andere valuta

Ook een soort van buitenlands geld verzamelen:

Veel spaargeld in andere valuta uit angst voor val van euro.
Nederlanders boeken uit angst voor een val van de euro een steeds groter deel van hun spaargeld over naar rekeningen in andere valuta's. Sinds eind 2007 - het begin van de crisis - is het bedrag dat is uitgezet in Zwitserse franks verdubbeld, in Japanse yens vervijfvoudigd, in dollars met 25 procent en in Britse ponden met 40 procent gestegen.

Bron: Volkskrant 3-5-2012

Steven Thursday 03 May 2012 at 10:05 am | | links |

Poesjes op het Chinese 100 Yuan-biljet?

A leading banknote and coin expert has denied a figure of a group of kittens appears in the new 100 yuan bill after a number of people claimed to have spotted the furry pets hidden in the banknote.

Tja, staan ze er echt? Het fotobewijs is redelijk overtuigend. Het hele verhaal is hier te vinden.

Steven Tuesday 07 February 2012 at 9:45 pm | | links |
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Interview met een verzamelaar

“The [paper] money of a country is its calling card. It’s the first thing that many people will ever see about the country. Numismatics is an important part of human history. It tells you something about the society.”

Een quote uit een interview met Jacob Mathai, een verzamelaar met een grote collectie papiergeld. Ik had graag wat meer voorbeelden uit zijn collectie gezien. Voor zover ik kan zien heeft hij ook geen eigen website dus zullen we het met dit interview moeten doen. Voor de mooie quote toch maar een link naar het hele verhaal.

Steven Saturday 04 February 2012 at 10:02 am | | links | No comments
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The life of a bank note

Van de Bank of Canada zijn een aantal aardige filmpjes te zien waarin het hele proces beschreven wordt hoe bankbiljetten worden gemaakt, specifiek het nieuwe 100 dollar-biljet. Van de eerste brainstorm via het ontwerpen en produktie tot de distributie. Eerste filmpje hieronder, de rest na de ‘lees verder’. 

Deel 1 – Research and development

Read More

Steven Saturday 28 January 2012 at 09:23 am | | links | No comments

Hoe wordt papiergeld gemaakt?

National banks used to update their currency every 15 years. They now have to change their notes every seven to eight years just to stay ahead of the counterfeiters.

Deze opmerking van de directeur van een papiergelddrukkerij is goed nieuws voor verzamelaars (en voor zijn eigen omzet natuurlijk). Een beetje verzamelaar weet uiteraard wel (ongeveer) hoe papiergeld wordt gemaakt. Een kijkje bij een drukker is echter maar weinigen gegeven. De BBC mocht de Landquart Paper Mill in Zwitserland bezoeken en dat leverde dit interessante verhaal over wat er gebeurt voor die mooie biljetten in ons album komen.

Steven Tuesday 17 January 2012 at 1:03 pm | | links |