Last night was a busy time for Ukrainian banknote auctions, there were eleven ending within roughly a hour of each other, from one seller. There were three lots I was focusing on in particular and the other 7 were lower on the wish list. I wasn't going to be online as the auctions were ending so I placed heavier then normal bids on the three I was really hoping to win and low ball bids on the rest of the lots. In addition to the Ukrainian notes there were also two Zimbabwe notes from the latest series, a $5 and $10, so while in a bidding frame of mind I threw a couple of low ball bids on those as well, not expecting to win. Why not, right? Well, after awakening from a sound slumber I turn on the old computer and start scrolling through emails, You Won!, You Won!, You Won! was peppered throughout several emails, uh oh better go check on the damage. As it turns out I took seven of the eleven Ukrainian notes and one of the Zimbabwe, the $10. Yes! It's always a bit of a shock when you win things you are not expecting to, a little bit of sticker shock. So you sometimes have the Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Paying, more so I feel when you are not live bidding. At any rate I'm thrilled to have gotten the notes that I did and it really wasn't that costly, in fact I would say that 6 of the 8 were good to exceptional deals and two I over paid. The only reason I have a little angst is because I'll be paying for this out of my "Mad Money" Pay Pal account, an account I keep for the buying and selling of coins or notes. As of last night, I did have enough to purchase the 2011 50 Hryven Commemorative banknote that I had mentioned in a previous journal entry, a note that is going to be tougher to get as time goes on, but with last nights victories I'm going to have to wait on that for a few more weeks until I sell some more items. Well enough musing and onto the results.
The first lot was this pair of 2,000,000 Karbovantsiv (Pick# 91Br) consecutive banknotes (remainders), one with a fancy serial number, "Descending Pairs". I didn't know that PMG recognized descending pairs, anyway. These notes are not hard to find as remainders in good condition, in fact you can usually pick them up for a $1 a piece or less in bulk. I know, I already have several that I was sorting through to send in for my first submission. But to save me the trouble of submitting two on my own, plus one had a fancy serial # designation and because I wasn't going to be available to make a snipe bid at the last second, I put a larger bid on them. A bid that I think was more than they were worth. Here they are, pictures are from the seller.
The next note I put a strong bid on, was again a 2,000,000 Karbovantisv note (Pick# 91B) but this one is signed and stamped, a valid note. These are much harder to come by in UNC condition and can range from $20 - $40+ (ungraded), depending on the stamp and signature. Again, for the reasons mentioned above I put a large bid on it and probably overpaid, maybe not as bad as the first notes.
The third note I was really gunning for was a 2005 100Hryven (Pick#122a) these, while not necessarily difficult to find are not "plentiful". An example is probably going to run you around $15 (ungraded) from a source overseas (that includes the shipping), if you can get one at that price it's a good deal and hope that the condition is good. Again not wanting the hassle of trying to collect multiple raw notes and submitting, along with a respectable grade on this one, I put a high bid on this note as well. I don't feel I overpaid to severely on this one, although it was a little higher than I expected.
The above notes are the first examples of such for my collection, so I was specifically keen on acquiring them. The other four Ukrainian notes are varieties of existing Picks and I was able to pick each of those up for less than the cost of grading (on average), so I'm very pleased with all of those.
Now we come to the surprise of the night, a Zimbabwe 2020 $10 PMG 68 EPQ new series note (Pick Unlisted). I threw down a low ball bid on this one, what I thought was a real stinker of a bid and had zero chance of winning. Well, I won. I was as shocked at winning this note as I was at seeing the price realized on a Zimbabwe $5 PMG 70 EPQ new series note ($1,026.02). At under $25 (including tax and shipping), I'll take that every time.
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P.S.
In my first journal entry I was hemming an hawing about the next set of notes to collect, Well let's end the suspense, (not that there was much) and make it official. I am now collecting new series Zimbabwe Dollars. I would like to get the complete series to date in 68 but we'll see how it goes. Currently only comprising of four denominations, it's not much of a commitment but it is as involved as I want to be at the moment on another set.
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