Marotta

I am not a big paper money guy. (In fact, I do not really collect much of anything. As a writer, I have other interests in the material.) Anyone else who is into paper can provide more information.

Paper money gets less attention than coins for several reasons. Many coin collectors like the "feel" (both physical and emotional) of hard money and distrust government paper. The threat of hyperinflation, the history of Continentals and Greenbacks and Wild Cat banks, all combine to give a tangible reality to gold and silver and even copper. ("Pure Copper Preferable to Paper" says the Canadian coin.) However, the truth is that there is a powerful mystique to paper money. It built America in a way that gold and silver did not and could not.

Furthermore, in the modern world, the fact is that except for America, coins are NOT MONEY. Only paper money is the lawful promise of the central banks. Coins are a mere convenience and are not legal tender.

Then, there is the material itself. Paper and printing technologies have always been more flexible as media for artists. The vingettes on paper money are truly stunning.

The one set I did pursue is Aviation. I have about 10 or 15 notes from Indonesia, Ireland, Portugal, Lithuania, and other places around the world with airplanes and airports on them.

Birds, plants, ships, scientists,... whatever your topical interest, paper money delivers some fascinating presentations.

The security features on paper money -- from the engravings of the 1800s to the see-through holograms of today -- are also interesting.

For Americans, among the most popular ways to collect paper money is to find National Bank notes from your Home Town. East of the Mississippi the wildcat banks are collectible, as well. Some people collect notes by signature. At the national level you have famous secretaries of the treasuriy and at the local level, those national bank and wildcat notes are often signed by the people whose names are now on boulevards.

As with any collectible, how you do it is up to you. And, of course, there are standard references to guide you. In fact, because paper money is a lawful fiduciary instrument -- as opposed to being tokens or bullion -- there is often better documentation about who is on the note and why they are there, and so on.

The Society of Paper Money Collectors is old and established and has a slick bimonthly magazine. Their website is www.spmc.org

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Marotta

I see no one is interested in Paper Money. I wonder why?

I actually started a set of Physicist on Banknotes. Some were pretty easy: countries with weak currencies like Italy (Galileo, Marconi), and Poland (Eva Sklodowska Curie) and Yugoslavia (Nikola Tesla) have notes you can afford. With Denmark (Bohr) and other prosperous places, the notes are about on par with America's Benjamin Franklin at $50 minimum.
The American Institute of Physics started a list on their website but the link no longer works. However, other places have continued it, such as:
http://www2.physics.umd.edu/~redish/Money/

If you want to get a look at a bunch and not spend a lot of money, you can go to a coin show, of course. One thing I do for Halloween, is I get Coin World and write to several dealers selling "collector lots" of world banknotes for about $25 per 50 or 100. I spend less on that than my wife does on candy for the Trick-or-Treaters. I love opening the envelopes. Not everything goes out the door on October 31.

(And I am not going to beat this to death or reply to myself again.)

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Tbirde

I've collected world paper for quite a while but only as a second priority compared to coins. Paper is less common and more fragile and coins do have more of that "substance" of history to them.
It seems like this forum would do better to be broken into subgroups, such as U.S. Coins, World Coins, Paper Money. (Just an opinion).

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Jess

US Paper Money is currently beyond my budget. There are some beautiful pieces of art work out there, but, for the most part are way to expensive. More fragile than hard money, harder to store etc etc.

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Marotta

Chrysta mentioned teaching British Literature. I was able to get a few authors on world banknotes just from the Bulk Collector Lots people sell in the classifieds and from the common 3-rings at coin shows. I doubt that I paid as much as $5 for any of these and most were 25cents to 50cents.

Charles Dickens on a 10-pound note will run you under $20 US. So, there are some exceptions. Many of the "new" nations of the former communist bloc honor authors. Iceland, of course, is famous for its 10-kronor note celebrating household literacy.

This is just one of many series you can build if you have an interest in something special. I teach middle school and I have preference for math and science, so I just picked up some high denomination notes (billions), inflation money, you know. I will use it to teach Scientific Notation.

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Tbirde

Interesting, the differences in European and American notations, such as billion/milliard, trillion/billion, etc. OT:how did these diifferent systems get started, part ways and why were they never reconciled?

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Chrysta Wilson

OK, here is an entry from a book put out by the team that does the Oxford English Dictionary called Questions of English. The book is set up like an FAQ of the English language:

Q: (paraphrased) Why do Americans use billion when they mean 'a thousand million' (the questioner was apparently annoyed by this word)

"A: the American word 'billion' is undoubtedly here to stay, and the French term 'millard' for 'a thousand million' has never achieved any real currency in English. Once businessmen and journalists found themselves discussing 'thousand millions' so frequently the American system simply became more convenient, despite any lack of logical tidiness; and it makes profits and budgets sound more impressive! It is now the standard usage in British government publications, and is rapidly establishing itself as the norm in other European languages too. One minor advantage in the American system is the ease of expression of larger numbers without repeating 'thousand' all the time. The higher numbers work like this:

--------------------------------------American-------------British
----------10 to the 12th power-----trillion-------------billion
----------10 to the 15th power-----quadrillion---thousand billion
----------10 to the 18th power-----quintillion---------trillion
----------10 to the 21st power-----sextillion-----thousand trillion
----------10 to the 24th power-----septillion--------quadrillion
----------10 to the 27th power-----octillion------thousand quadrillion
----------10 to the 30th power-----nonillion---------quintillion
----------10 to the 33rd power-----decillion-----thousand quintillion"

I'm sure I just violated copyright laws there, but oh well. I guess the answer is that they are at least starting to use the American system in the UK, and it is easy to see that a common system would certainly be needed. How confusing is this? Can you imagine, say, astronomers trying to have a conversation about light years or whatever the heck astronomers talk about? What a mess!

And I hope you appreciate me, because getting that table to be formatted right was a PAIN IN THE BUTT!!!! :wink:

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Tbirde

I *DO* appreciate your time and effort in the excellent explanation. I had found the same table, before I asked my question, in a copy of the Science Desk Reference put out by the N.Y. Public Library.

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Marotta

I decided that I know too little about this. I bought THE ART OF MONEY (two copies, actually), to go with THE MONEY MAKERS (INTERNATIONAL) and my SCWPM books.

I started picking up cheap crisp uncirculated notes that show the ranges of designs among issuing nations, etc. My latest there was from Netherlands Antilles.

I also have some that "look like" American paper, from our not-really-semi-autonomous-colonies in Latin America.

I got some Russian stuff that shows the collapse of the Romanovs and hey! the collapse of communism. (In that was a 5-ruble from WWII with an aviator for my aviation collectibles.)

I found a couple of high-denomination inflation notes for my set of "Googols."

I added the Slovenian inventor of their "ABCD-arium" for my authors.

And an Iraqi 1/2 Dinar because it has an Astrolabe on it for my sciences. (Never have found a really crisp India with a Satellite, but it is out there somewhere waiting for me.)

I agree that US Paper is "expensive." However, it is always worth face -- which is more than you can say for most of the foreign stuff. Also many Americans collect American paper, so there is a good demand market for it. That means you must pay for it, but it also puts a floor under your selling it. So, if you want something, like one of those Indian Chief notes from 1890, save for it, buy it, and enjoy it.

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americanpatriot

I've had this note for years, but have never found out if it's worth anything or not.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

Attached Thumbnails

 

GDJMSP

Howdy americanpatriot - Welcome to the Forum !!

Sorry I can't be of much help as notes are not my forte. But I'm sure someone will drop by with an answer before long

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tradernick

Marotta the $5 indian cheif note is a series 1899 silver certificate.

American Patriot I do a little with currency but I'm not overly familiar with errors...nonetheless let me tell you what I THINK you have there.
I believe it's a "second printing" error. The FRN seal is very low, although the 3rd printing items...serial number and green seal...seem to be in the correct position.
My best guess at value would be in the $20-$25 range. BUT...as I said, I'm not active in currency errors so hopefully someone will come along that has a better grasp on this than I do.
Best regards,
tradernick

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Douglas

I don't really "collect" currency but I do save a few just for fun. i asked for some two dollar bills at my bank and ten of them were brand new and consecutive, so I put them away. When the new twenty came out, I got a brand new old twenty so I saved it. I also put away a new twenty. I have a few silver certificates. Just for fun.

jody526

americanpatriot,

You have a shifted overprint (3rd print) error note.
In this case, the Federal Reserve District seal and number are shifted down.
For an overview of the printing process, read the web page below:

Banknote Production Process (click here)

chrisild

It is definitely not the norm in German ;-) Anyway, that second part I do not quite understand. We use "Million" when referring to a million, "Milliarde" when referring to a billion, and "Billion" when referring to a trillion. Why or where would the word "thousand" be used then?

Christian