These seeed to have gone up in prce. They used to be ~ $5 a piece and now I see them ll over the place. I have 10 or 11 in UNC -- I bought these as a novelty since it's the hisghest denomination ever printed. Also some "lower" denominations (if you'd call 10/50 trillin a a "lower" denominaltion. It's a reminder how exponentially hard inflation can hit. Looking at various serial numbers I had a sense Mugabe was prineting more after the currency turned to crap and they started using South African and USD currency. AFter all, they have the resources and even $5 is bank compared to what is essentially worhless.This one looks appealing, though... Just because of the serial number.: http://www.amazon.com/Zimbabwe-100-Trillion-EXTREMELY-Inflation/dp/B00DMIHGH2 The original exchange rate was 300USD at the time they were minted (whih sharply declined), but they have no monetary value now. They also kept making new type after type trying to multiply the value of the previously debased currency. That could possibly be a sign ou are on the wrong track. It was a shame, the gvernmernt reissued several new bank notes that were expoential to the previous types trying to restorre the currency currency. That could possibly be a sign you are on the wrong track. It's a shame; wheelelbarrows worth of the stuff d to go to stores which hardly stocked anything aside from the bare essentials (I believe the regional food is sort of like a pasta bsae similar to couscous. Some people think this is unethical to buy these but I think they have historical value. I was about to get more but I was hesitant, especially since some dealers in CA bought tons of these in huge bundles straight from Zimbabwe (many of which I think were in UNC straight from the mint. Also, if the serial numbers go in order it confuzes me when I compare to tthe estimated count printed. It was hard to tell if there was an overlod of suply but I wonder if it will be a collector's item (at least in UNC) at some point in time. This isn't mine, they are at the bank (I have no idea why) but for your reference: Seems like you can still get some UNC's at reasonable prices.
Those 100 trillion dollar notes will always have some collector value as the highest denomination ever printed. That being said, there's a bubble on them now - some collectors are paying a lot for them, like the Amazon price. An eBay power seller just bought a stack of 100 for over $1800! He's got to average $25 apiece just to break even after overhead. If you do a little homework and exercise a bit of patience, you should be able to get one for around $11 to $15 shipped. Check the eBay sold listings, and you'll see that the cheap ones sold at low opening bid auctions, or sellers accepted lower offers. Don't pay $43 for one! - unless you're made of money of course. Whether or not they retain their value as collector items remains to be seen. They will always have a certain appeal because of the denomination, but I predict that in a few years' time you'll see them dealers' paper junk bins, maybe not for a dollar, but perhaps for no more than two or three.
One of the contributing factors in adopting the S. African rand and US dollar as mediums of exchange was that Giesecke & Devrient started adhering to the sanctions prohibiting trade with Zimbabwe and stopped sending the paper stock that the banknotes were printed on. I am somewhat surprised that the Mugabe government then didn't just pick up paper stock to print their toilet paper money on from China - but they didn't.
100 trillion dollars.. wow their inflation rate must be huge. do they bring wheel barrels full of money to the food market ? that money is probably not worth the paper it's printed on.
It's ironic in the extreme that they are selling for even $10 at the moment. But as I said, collector interest...I'll probably pick one up myself. Does anyone know what the mintage number on the 100 trillion note is? I can't seem to hunt it down.
Zimbabwe does not use those "Zimdollars" any more. As the inflation got worse and out of control, the country switched to a multi-currency setup five years ago. And while "100 trillion" is an enormous amount, it would be even more if they had not had chopped some zeros off before. 100 trillion is 1014 but in terms of pre-2006 Zimbabwe dollars, it would be 1027 - see the box on the right here ... Christian
This is far from the highest denomination currency ever printed, in nominal terms. Inflation in postwar Hungary was much greater than Zimbabwe's. On eBay, you can buy a one hundred quadrillion pengo (monetary unit) note for about $20. 1 trillion = 1,000,000,000,000 100 quadrillion = 100,000,000,000,000,000 (expressed as 100,000 trillions on note) See eBay #351143422488 As you might expect, around the same time, Hungary also printed the largest denomination postage stamps ever issued; they are very common.
I wasn't aware of the Hungarian notes - thank you for the clarification. Still, the Zimbabwe notes are fun because they've got the number fully written out with zeros: 100 000 000 000 000.
Yeah, I bought some a few years ago; I was going to give a free bill with every purchase, but they went up in price, and they were a nuisance to ship in a way that would preserve them in crisp uncirculated unfolded condition.
I'd be interested in hearing people's takes on this. What is unethical about buying/collecting bank notes that have been demonetized?
I imagine because it may support the Mugabe government directly or indirectly. It is without a doubt an execrable regime...
Interesting post! Thanks ^^ It sounds similar to what Zimbabwe did. They kept reissuing new currency at dollars "valued" exponentionlly over the previous ones issued, where the "new" dollars were worth 10^X * the old dollars. So, if you tke that into account it's pretty similar. (btw, this is from memory so someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty certain on this) So to get this straight, they called it a B-pengo (eq. to one billion pengo) and printed them at denominations of 100,000? Wow at what point do you give up? Then again, Zimbabwe didn't even bother to rename it, they just issued new fiat money and said it was worth some exponential factor over the old crap. It's a really sad situation when these kinds of things happen. Yeah, I've seen some VERY LARGE serial numbers. I mean, I know they printed a lot of these but not enough to reconcile that. I'll pull some out of the bank next time I go there and post them. I don't know why I have them there anyway. They aren't worth very much.
I have the set of these along with Yugoslavian, Argentine, Brazil and a few others. I put together an inflation folder to show my kids and others what to watch for etc and how it works. Lots of misc bills. Cost ~$100 / value a lot to watch the eyes of someone when you keep turning the pages as the notes get bigger.
I have a few myself I've been getting for $1 to $2 each. Zimbabwe's inflation by 2008 was 89,700,000,000,000,000,000,000% (how do you even read that out?!) according to Wikipedia. $1 USD was equivalent to $2,621,984,228 Zimbabwe. As of 2014, they use exclusively USD there now, and no longer print their own currency. I don't believe any of the hokey from whiners complaining about it being "unethical". 90% of the time this money is sold by people not even living in Africa. All the ones I bought (and seen in my searches) come from random people here in the USA.
Zimbabwe stopped using the "Zimdollar" in 2009. That was five years ago. And no, they do not exclusively use the US dollar - at least according to pretty much every African and European source that I have read about this. Here is an article about the multi currency system, and about the new bond coinage. Yes, this is the paper money forum, but why not attach an image of the pieces ... Christian
