hyperinflation collection?

I've always been fascinated with the concept of money every since I learned in school how most modern currencies have effectively no intrinsic value - their value is just a shared belief / delusion.

The past several years I've been following the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe with a fascinated horror. That got me thinking as I get back into coin collecting that it might be interested to create a 'type' collection of money from economies which have suffered hyperinflation - zimbabwe, brazil, germany, etc. as a personal reminder of what "money" is...

Just curious if anyone else out there has done this, and if so, if you have any pointers for information, dealers, etc. since I'm not familiar with non-US collecting.

Cheers!

 

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I would include a Roman antoninianus from the reign of Claudius II. What had been valued at two silver coins was now a tiny, dumpy little bronze coin.

One of these:

Claudius II, 268-270 AD
AE - antoninianus 21mm
Cyzicus, 268-270 AD
radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right
IMP CLAVDIVS P F AVG
two captives bound & seated back to back either side of trophy
VICTOR GERMAN
RIC V 247

Was equal (on paper) to two of these:

Roman Republic
C Mamilius Limetanus, 82 BC
AR denarius
draped bust of Mercury r. with caduceus over shoulder
Ulysses standing r., holding staff in l. hand and extending his r. hand to his dog Argus
C MAMIL to l., LIMETAN to r.
Sydenham 741, Crawford 362/1

 

Consider including a series of ancient Roman coins in your inflation set.
It got pretty bad requiring several changes of currency systems when what once was a good size coin shrank to a tiny scrap of metal requiring a new system be started recoining the old money.
http://dougsmith.ancients.info/denom.html

 

I haven't thought of it the way you have...but it would make for an interesting collection indeed! :thumb:

A while back I purchased a 10 Billion Mark note dated 1923. It didn't cost much and it's an interesting piece of history...I really like it.

 

Don't know if there are any countries in this world with currencies based on the current supply of some commodity; I don't think so. Coins do of course have some intrinsic value but that is by default lower than the face value.

Here is a list of hyperinflation countries and periods that might be helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation#Examples_of_hyperinflation
Note however that in some cases (e.g. Hungary) no coins were issued during those times. In other cases (e.g. Turkey) they did not use figures only, so you see coins that say "25 Bin Lira" for example. Well, "bin" means "thousand", so it is a 25,000 lira piece ...

Christian

 

I bought, for just a few bucks, a set of 10, 50 and 100 trillion dollar notes from zimbabwe.....just couldn't help myself. lol

 

Sounds like a neat idea. I like German hyperinflationary stamps as well. It's very unusual to see a little postage stamp with a face value of millions of marks.

 

I have several bills.. I thought it would be neat to have TEN TRILLION DOLLARS!
So I do... I Also ended up buying the 100 Billion And the 500 Million Bills

I like them!

On the same subject.. Would we think of the 1991 1000 USSR Ruble one such item? I am selling a bunch.. Need $$ for more coins!!

 

Thanks so much.. great help.. I just got one of these with your link..
Cool!
http://cgi.ebay.com/50-000-000-000-...ZViewItemQQptZPaper_Money?hash=item35a4ab4f68

 

while the thought of having a hundred trillion dollars may sound nice, it won't mean much if one trillion dollar bill will barely buy a 20 ounce soda at the soda machine, but if you have a few rolls of copper pennies, or some silver dimes, you'll be able to buy a week's worth of groceries with that silver dime or with a few rolls of copper pennies because by the time hyperinflation happens in the United States to the point where we're spending a trillion dollars on a soda, copper (or any coin made of any metal, for that matter) will be forced out of circulation because when bad money enters circulation, good money goes into hiding.

 

Oh I know.. I love my 1000's of Silver Dimes.. I tell people all the time that they will have a wheelbarrow of cash to buy what I will get with one dime.. The perfect silver trade coin...
But.. To get a cool bill for 2 or 3 bucks.. well that is part of the love and illness of my hoarding.. Ah The Hoard....

 

I believe a soda that Paris Hilton drank from sold for close to that on eBay some time ago.

 

yeah, that does sound cool, to be able to buy $100 worth of groceries by today's standards for the amount of silver (or copper pennies), that today would only cost a couple bucks to get.

 

You're really only assuming here. I really don't think hyperinflation to that extent would occur in the U.S. in any of our lifetimes, and even if it did, it doesn't mean that the relative value of metals would go up that much. If the dollar tanked, how would that possibly make a single silver dime worth the equivalent of $100 worth of groceries? There's hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, but a silver quarter won't pay for 50 dozen eggs there.

 

it's called envisioning what the future could be like and imagining how rich you'll feel when considering how much you bought your coins for before hyperinflation and imagining how much you'll be able to buy with the coins after hyperinflation. It may not always be based on what we have today in other countries, but of course, we're the biggest debtor nation in the world as well as the biggest creditor nation, however, China is competing with us for the title of the biggest creditor nation and as soon as we loose that title, hyperinflation will begin to take off, slowly at first, but it may gain momentum sooner than we expect. For those who aren't prepared, this will be a scary time, but for those who have alot of silver dimes and quarters, and copper pennies, it's fun to imagine how much those coins will buy and compare the purchasing power that the coins might have after hyperinflation has robbed everyone else of their puchasing power to the value of those coins today. In other words, I'm wasn't trying to insist that I'm absolutely sure that a silver dime will buy what $100 will buy today, but as an owner of silver coins and copper pennies, it's fun to imagine the kind of purchasing power these coins will have after hyperinflation has ripped away the puchasing power of paper money.

 

Having been places where hyperinflation struck, I would not recommend it. It wipes out practically all finance, savings etc. It may sound fun for those of you that have a stash of silver dimes etc, but think of all your retirement accounts, annuities, 401K's, life insurance - everything worthless. And your silver dimes may end up getting taken by someone from the government that has a bigger gun than you do.

 

I picked up a Twenty Trillion Dollar note from Zimbabwe within the last couple of months. I also have several hyperinflation notes from Yugoslavia as high as 500 Billion Dinara. Notes like these put things in perspective for me. For as bad as things are in the economy here, it could be alot worse.

~Daniel

 

For whatever it's worth; you can still pick up Z$100,000,000,000,000 bills on ebay for a few bucks. I bought one months ago, just after they announce that Rands and Greenbacks could be used as currency in Zimbabwe.

Just to see all those zeroes is cool in my book.

 

Here is a hyper-inflation coin. This is a 10,000,000 Lira proof from Turkey 2002. The only other coins that I saw with such high denominations were municipal notgelds from Germany in 1923 and 1924.



TURKEY~10,000,000 Lira 2002

 

A couple of Ole Reliable pieces of Fiat currency : Confederate & Notgeld. Traci :hammer: