Already have a dragon collection, and while I don't have every banknote ever printed that depicts a dragon of some kind, it's kind of petering out in variety. I'm not really "done" with it yet but I'm less actively working on it because there's not a lot left to add that's much different from what's already in there. So somewhat on a whim but got more serious about it later, started to work on elephants for... well, some reason. I just like elephants I guess, and they look pretty good on banknotes. Obviously banknotes that depict elephants are usually from countries that well, have elephants native to them, as makes sense. So pretty much Asian and African nations. I've not yet seen any banknotes depicting elephants from places that don't have wild elephants somewhere in their country. (Maybe there's a few, but I've not seen any yet.) I just started recently so I don't have a huge number of these yet, but here's what I have so far (to save space just showing the side that has the elephant/elephants; click the link in my signature if you want to see the other sides of these): Vietnam, 1000 dong, 1988 Malawi, 50 kwacha, 2016 Indochinese Peninsula, 100 dollars, 2020 (fantasy note) India, 10 rupees, 2013 Uganda, 500 shillings, 1996 Netherlands-Guinea, 500 gulden, 2016 (fantasy note) South Africa, 20 rand, ND (c. 2013) Congo, 500 francs, 2022 Uganda, 5 shillings, 1987 Zimbabwe, 250,000,000 dollars, 2008 Laos, 100 kip, 1957 (ok kind of a stretch lol but technically qualifies) Bound to get more eventually as time and money allows. (Actually have some that are supposed to be arriving in the mail soon, in fact.) Will post more as I get them.
Great idea @Troodon! When I started collecting, collecting animal motifs was the furthest thing from my mind. A couple years later, I realized this was a terrific approach especially since collecting World currency can quickly get out of hand! I then created this WORLD MOTIFS page on my site (though I missed the boat on the Elephants). I have the 10 Rupees from India, the Vietnamese 1000 Dong & the 20 Rand from the Republic of South. I also posted a 100 Baht (P-89 replacement) from Thailand in "Recent Additions" thread. Here's another banknote I have from Thailand, P-119r 50 Baht replacement. Many Thai notes also have symbolic elephants as part of the design (like you posted on the 100 Kip from Laos):
Oh that thing I said about not being able to find an elephant note from a country that elephants are not native to? Well I did find one: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/note206535.html This one's definitely on my list to pick up eventually (especially as I don't have any notes from Portugal as of yet; always like adding new countries to the collection). Typically see these going for around $20 give or take so not out of the question.
I have this P-187 500 Escudos note! I'm actually surprised they're not on more nations (but I really haven't searched that hard).
Nice add @Troodon! The elephant portrayed on the Zimbabwe $20 is quite dramatic, like the Congolese or Ugandan examples.
Just arrived today! South Sudan, 50 pounds, 2017 New country for my collection, in fact the newest country that exists. South Sudan became independent of Sudan in 2011 and it's the newest country to be widely recognized as an independent sovereign nation.
Congrats @Troodon: that 50 Pound note from South Sudan is a real beauty! (The Tanzania & Zambia notes are nice too)
Arrived today: Portugal, 500 escudos, 1997 New country for the overall collection, and first elephant note not from Asia or Africa. Really miss the variety in European notes that existed pre-Euro.
Does this count? Well it's my collection, and I say it counts: Disney, 1 dollar, 2005 Dumbo is indeed an elephant after all. I didn't realize how serious the collection of Disney Dollars have become, especially since Disney last printed them in 2014 and stopped selling them in 2016 (citing as their reason the increased use of gift cards and digital currency rendering them obsolete). People still collect these (there are 172 known varieties), and PMG event certifies them. It's an expensive thing to collect, especially since they're no longer being made. I'm just getting the one with an elephant on it for the sake of my "elephant collection" lol.
New arrivals: Algeria, 500 dinars, 1998 So many elephants, they had to put them on both sides! Also is really interesting how the scanner reacted to the security band on the obverse. Myanmar, 5000 kyats, 2009 Really like the style here.
Zimbabwe, 1000 dollars, 2003 Zimbabwe used this same picture on quite a few notes; this I think is the best rendition of it.
That is a lovely portrayal of those magnificent beasts. I have found that the further you go back with Zimbabwe's currency, they do get more attractive (before hyperinflation). It's in 2008, with that 100 Trillion, where I feel the design elements get stuck in a terrible repetitious rut.
