I collect all currency - world currency, colonial, confederate, state, old/current US. I buy 95% of my currency from eBay. vcoins has a low stock with over-priced items. And, the coin shops I go to always tell me they have so few currency bills in stock - almost never. Thoughts - Ideas - Suggestions? Thanks!
I like to pick up supplies at my LCS & while his notes are overpriced, it doesn't hurt to look through his bargain bins. This $1.00 from Bahamas was a year I was looking for (to fill in a gap) & also has a rotator serial number. It was priced about 1/2 of what I'd pay for a regular $1.00 on eBay. In Canada, getting a deal at a LCS is nearly impossible (everything is overpriced) but I have heard some great stories about bargain bin finds from a few US collector friends too (on WORLD currency). They're often sharing some pretty nice Canadian notes that I'm sure would sell for 4X what they're getting them for (here). If you're into World, I suggest you check their B bins. When I started back in the hobby (about 2004), I bought 90% of my CDN notes from other collectors (usually way below what I would pay on eBay). Active forums like CPMF Trading Post or the Paper Money Forum BST section have worked well for me. While eBay can be good (with the right sellers) I have found its usually "hit or miss" when it comes to a seller's grading/attribution skills (many UNC notes AU or the tougher P# on a common garden variety).
Heritage Auctions has weekly or near-weekly currency auctions...ons of stuff, domestic and foreign.....Great Collections has fewer inventory but some good quality stuff.
I have also found Allens Coins very reasonably priced for WORLD stock but that was partly b/c I put together 2 fairly massive orders as their INT'L postage is $30.00 (quite a bit so the more I ordered the less mark up/note). Most of his stock were conservatively graded & some were about 60% of what I would have paid had I ordered a similar item on eBay. His packaging was excellent & each note (no matter how cheap or expensive) came in a topnotch PVC-free currency sleeve. I haven't really seen anything in his stock recently but I also don't buy US currency nor CDN (from a US seller). The one major hiccup (in ordering from him) is that it's pretty much "buying blind" as he supplies stock pics only for his inventory.
