Hi everyone. Has any of you ever tried to collect at least one banknote from every country, territory and colony in the world? I have been trying for the last 11 months, and i am down to just 23 more banknotes to complete the first part of my collection. i am thinking i will start collecting the other banknotes from the same series as the ones i have now. The last 23 are ones that are harder to find, which is why i don't have them yet. I am collecting a pre-euro banknote from every euro country too, and not just a euro. I was just curious if anyone else has tried to or has completed a collection like this?
I originally started such a collection, but realized it wasn't for me. edited (advertising here is against forum rules)
Some of the last 23 that i am looking for are not terribly hard to find, i just have to do a little looking to find them. The ones i am really looking for now are: Botswana, Cyprus, Djibouti, Finland, Tahiti, Luxembourg, Macau, Malta, Northern Ireland.
I imagine this would be one ambitious project; how many countrys do you figure you'll look for? Picking up a couple of KPs Standard Catalog Of World Paper Money recently, one for special issues and the other that covers from,, something like 1376 to 1960 I have not counted the number of countrys listed. I've had the KP catalogs for coins and was amazed at the number of countrys I'd never heard of before; then there are the countrys that no longer exist. This sounds like a massive project, I'd guess there are not many people that would take it on. I wish you good luck on this collection, it's something I'd find interesting. With no set goal, I do something similar with world coins. I buy them by the pound at a local B&M coin shop and when I'm in the mood I can spend hours going through them and identifying the ones I can. It's interesting to me, so many countrys, so many patterns; I'd think it would be the same with paper currency. Have fun.
It has been a really ambitious project. i am actually now down to just 17 more specific banknotes i need. I am hoping to finish this phase of the collection in the next couple months. i have included territories and colonies that issue seperate currency too, like bermuda, gibraltar, saint helena etc.... i have not counted the countries recently but i do know i have 450+ banknotes now. i do like it because of just what you said, they are all so different, and some of them look more like artwork than money, especially since ours isnt artistic or colorfull.
If you are compiling a collection of current countries, separate territories, etc. that should be reasonably doable. If you are including every issuing authority in the Pick catalog, there are some that will simply not be possible on a small budget. The Arabian National Bank of the Hejaz comes to mind.
it is mostly current countries and seperate territories. i do have some banknotes from countries and colonies that are not around anymore.
the hardest one i found was a german south west african banknote, still looking after all these years. a good tip for anyone wanting st helena notes is to contact the islands post office via their web site and purchase them for face value, they sell for approximately 10 times FV on auction sites. i purchased the entire set for £86.50p..............
I have notes from 163 different countries: http://www.panix.com/~clay/currency/World.html Some of the Southeast Asian countries (Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia) represent a fairly significant collection of notes.
I don't think I'll ever come close to your goal, because I have limited my colllection to countries I have visited (with a few exceptions). It not only makes for a very personal collection, but has also resulted in several memorable interactions - a "casino" in Zimbabwe, a beer-tent on the Laotian side of the Mekong river while travelling in Thailand etc. Not surprisingly, my wife has become suspicious of my travel-planning skills and motivation .
