Worlds most worthless coin?

Yeah, it's whatever the supply/demand is as collector's pieces. I remember back in college my professor showed us postcards from Germany sent out pre-hyperinflation, and progressively until the height of the hyperinflation. You could see the number and value of stamps and how absurd it was, and imagine how people survived back then (probably with a lot of bartering, precious metals, and other currencies). There was a story of one person who left a basket of paper cash outside, and the next day the homeowner came to look, the basket was gone with the pile of cash remaining. A lot of people collect those and I'd think those demand lots of $, and of course, banknotes would probably demand similar.

 

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I don't know what it is right now, but in the future, it will be Obama's presidential dollar.

(Oops, did I say that out loud?)

 

Zim$100 trillion was the highest denomination.

 

Dear God, I hope not.

 

Come to think of it, I think it would make a really neat gift to give someone a framed series of banknotes of one of the unfortunate hyperinflation countries, with notes moving chronologically from a normal economy, to inflation, to the beginning and height of the hyperinflation, to post-hyperinflation.

I don't collect paper money and this is something I'd put on my wall! It's art, history, and lesson for the future all-in-one. Something to give to politicians! Also history and economics buffs... and the crazy Gordon Gecko's of the world (remember the tulip market scene? That was a bubble and not inflation but that sort of art is really neat to me because there's a really substantial and practical story behind it).

 

Not too long after the 100 trillion dollar note was introduced they did a fourth currency reform and chopped 12 zeros off so the 100 Trillion dollar note became 10,000 of the new dollars. And less than two months after the fourth reform the Zimbabwe dollar was dropped completely and they began using foreign currency.

 

Face value in 2009.

 

I paid $1.79 for my $1 note, $2.22 for my $500K note, and $4.95 for my $100 trillion note, all shipped. I see that the $500K notes from the same seller are now going for $19.99.

 

Within days after Zimbabwe began issuing their extremely high denomination banknotes, the prices paid by collectors who wanted to obtain pieces for their collections was more than the converted value of the currency, and, of course, has stayed that way.

 

I reckon $4.95 with free shipping was a good deal for a crisp UNC Zimbabwean $100 trillion bill. I bought it off of ebay in July 2013. As I said, the same seller is now selling them for $19.99 with free shipping. Did they quadruple in value over the last year and a half or did the seller not know what they were worth and I got a great deal? Were the $1 and $500,000 bills good deals or market value? I bought them last month.

 

Enough with the politics. I get bombarded with politics and Obama bashing, enough as it is, and I don't want to read about it here, unless the politics are coin related (for example: 'Did FDR overstep when he banned gold ownership in 1933?" "What led to the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe which resulted in those awesome $100 trillion bills?") Such threads would largely be historical in nature. I like to have places that I can get away from politics, and this is one such place. If you want to talk about negative politics, there are plenty of other places to disuss such matters.

 

On the paper money forum I posted a running exchange rate valuation

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/zimbabwe-bills.257426/#post-2051212

 

If nothing else during runaway inflation those notes are cheaper then toilet paper! personally I feel a zinc Lincoln cent is about worthless too

 

It's one thing when notes and coins become worthless due to hyperinflation, and another when they are nearly worthless when minted.

I can remember receiving 1 kopeck coins as change in Russian supermarkets back in 2003-2004. This was a time when the ruble was stable, so even when minted the coins were worth approximately 1/30 of a U.S. cent. Even though they were extremely tiny they must cost a lot more to make than they were worth.

I also remember purchasing Soviet 15 kopeck coins in kiosks for 15 rubles back in 1993, during a time when the exchange rate was 1000 rubles per dollar. These "pyatnashki" traded at a premium because this was the only denomination accepted by pay phones.

 

I have started a small USSR coin collection. I really like the designs on some of them. Plus they have the controversial hammer and sickle on them.

Did the Soviet Union ever produce proofs or cameos? Please tell me they did...

Did the CCCP produce silver coins? Please tell me they did...

 

The RSFSR and early years of the USSR up to 1931 had silver and gold coins in circulation.

It was written somewhere that the Soviet coinage system was the modern world's first all base metal coinage. A quick review of the listings in Krause indicates that 1931 was the transition year. Undoubtedly Uncle Joe had something to do with it. Perhaps one of our Russian members or Soviet-era collectors can elaborate much better.

 

After the Russian Revolution and resulting Civil War left the economy in shambles, the new Soviet government instituted the "New Economic Policy" (NEP) in the early 1920's. This policy allowed for free enterprise as well as the issuance of gold and silver based currency to replace the hyperinflated paper rubles that were circulating at the time. Although NEP was not in accordance with communist ideals, it was the only option the Bolsheviks had to prevent further economic collapse which would have caused them to lose power.

After Stalin consolidated power in the late 1920's, the Soviet government moved away from NEP and instituted forced collectivization, nationalization of industry and all the other horrors of the USSR that we read about in our history books. A debased currency was an integral part of communism as it took economic power away from individuals and left it solely in the hands of the state. This explains why silver disappeared from Soviet coinage in the early 30's.

 

I'm going to nominate the Uzbekistan 1 tiyin coin from 1994. It's still technically legal tender issued by an internationally recognized country, but at current exchange rates its worth 0.0000041 of a dollar.

Another nominee is the new 1 Ruble coin from Transnistria. Since only a few countries recognize the sovereignty of Transnistria, in most places the coins are only worth "melt" value. But since the coin is made of plastic, it would cost more to recycle them into something useful than the value of the materials. So arguably, the value of the coin is negative.

Both coins were issued in large enough quantities so that the only collector value is in curiosity.

 

One box of pennies is equal to five million of those coins, something tells me that I would need a crane just to carry that box of coins.