OK. ... That is a very cool note. I can see that is a high grade star note. It's not old though. I'm not aware of what makes it cool and desirable outside of being a high grade star note. Help me out here please with some education. TIA.
Good question @Zeppo Shanski Two things changed numismatics dramatically. September 3rd 1995, when eBay launched, and December 1998 when PayPal started. This helped introduce new generations to coins and paper money collecting. All you needed was a computer, a modem and a phone line. Instant supply and demand. Also, in 1998 Currency Grading and Authentication (CGA) started and filled the need of collectors to feel assured that the UNC note being sold by the dealer in Hazelhurst Mississippi was truly UNC. A non-partial third party to determine grade. Now collectors had confidence in their online purchase. Up until then collectors needs were fulfilled by their local coin shop, trade magazines and coin/currency shows.
OK ... Thanks for that. So what I'm understanding now is it's the availability of products and customers ... and the ease of payment. So because that bill is pretty, available and someone outside of the owners backyard area can see and pay for it ... it is now cool and desirable. Am I getting this right?
Yes, that’s part of it. Sometimes what makes a note desirable is the ability to complete sets. I came over from the coin side, and my first goal was to collect every $1 FRN star note for every district and every series in CH-CU or better. Most were affordable, but some not. I diversified quite a bit since then, but still continue this set. Everything about the design on $1 FRNs has pretty much stayed the same since 1963, so if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. But, with so many new collectors the competition for quality $1 star notes, especially low print runs has grown exponentially, or so it seems.
The Hell, you say... love Greek notes, mainly because of what you talk about on this one, the rich cultural information on many of them. Been to Olympia myself, ran the old sprint track which is still there. Also love the Greek coins that often appear on the notes. Only iffy Greek notes are the wartime notes, they are a bit of meh... Today's new pickup is this Northern Ireland one pound note from the Bank of Ireland. Just liked the design on this series of notes and waited for one to fall into my greedy clutches...
I always felt that Greek notes could have had much more potential in the whole neoclassical art style. I mean, look at other notes by ABNC that were GORGEOUS, and unfortunately that same level did not grace most Greek notes. The best and prettiest ones are often REALLY expensive, so I don't have any nor do I think I will ever get any... I'm an absolute sucker for Greek art and architecture. Back when I was working at a call center, I would go through a Greek art textbook per week to pass the time at work
Earl - most of my Greek pictures aren't as available now thanks to the asshats at Photobucket, a great many early notes are excellend designs, as our some of their first postwar notes. I'm sure one or two will pop up in my new pickups from time to time... Today's new pickup is a not-so-far neighbor of Greece, this 1941 Twenty Pengo note from Hungary, also known as Austria's unswept back porch. Really like this design, very reminiscent of Alphonse Mucha artwork on the obverse. Or is it the reverse? So hard to make heads or tails of many foreign designs...
Nice! Hungary is one of my favorite currencies, and is the single country from which I have the greatest number of notes - 18 (with three additional from Austria-Hungary)
I have a bunch of what I call "two headed notes" - where it's very unclear which side is heads or tails. I believe the way to go here is to find the side with the serial number and/or signatures. Even so, this is still sometimes very unclear. I have an Austria-Hungary note where one side is in German and the other side is in Hungarian, but are otherwise nearly identical. Yikes.
Today's new pickup is another Hungary note, a 1930 one hundred pengo note. What the hell is a pengo? I don't know either, but the royal palace in Budapest looks like nice digs...
I don't know that everything that gets posted here lives up to others definition of special, but I can tell you what makes this note special to me. I like collecting banknotes and posting photos of them.
That absolutely works for me. Everything in my entire collection of everything I've got is there pretty much based on the same idea sorta. Where I was going was ... It's a nice crisp new $5-spot. It's pretty. I'm thinking that it probably cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 to get it graded. Is there something collecting-wise ... outside of you just liking it ... that justifies that kinda layout?
It's definitely not a high value note. I bought it already graded. I don't really know why a previous owner had it graded. All I can do do is speculate. My best guesses would be that they thought it would grade higher than it did, or they were building a graded set, or they got a ridiculously low price to grade as part of a bulk submission. Who knows though really. Thanks for the replies.
I have a couple really neat Hungarian issues I may or may not have posted before, but I'm too lazy to break out the scanner right now... For now here's a really neat Macedonia 50 denar. Obverse features a neat medieval angel on a brilliant blue background. Reverse features a cool Byzantine architectural design surrounding an ancient coin.