Written 10/24

Well, here we are. The End...

A few weeks ago, approximately on or around Oct. 1, the seller who had originally listed the first lot of 4 Shahiv banknotes listed two more, 10 & 20 Shahiv banknotes. I was excited to see these listed, and therefore justified my incessive PMG Population Report watching, kind of, but I felt little excitement in wanting to acquiring either of the two notes.  The 10 Shahiv note was a lower grade than the first, the first being graded 55 EPQ and the second 50 EPQ, the 20 Shahiv was a higher graded note than the first one listed, the first being a 35 EPQ and the second a 58 EPQ! Having already purchasing the first 20 Shahiv note I wasn't particularly keen on getting the second at a much higher price, so I decided to wait, and the 10 Shahiv is a note that I don't currently have a graded example of ,but I decided to pass on this note as well.  What's going on?

I watched the two notes expecting to see two additional notes listed, the 30 & 40 Shahiv notes, which were graded at the same time as the others making two groups of four notes each. The groups consisting of 10, 20, 30 & 40 Shahiv banknotes at varying grades. Well the two additional notes never appeared and the 10 & 20 Shahiv notes went unsold in the first go around. 

I'm just not excited about paying a high price when I have nongraded examples that are in better condition, that being said I'm just not going to do it. No.  Ukrainian notes in general have been getting pricy and I'm too the point where it makes more sense to submit my own notes instead of paying a premium for already graded notes. I've been picking up raw examples of notes for a while now in anticipation of the availability of graded notes not being there, but now due to increasing prices for graded notes (which I didn't see coming) I'm ramping up the raw note purchasing. I have a hard time believing that there are a ton of Ukrainian collectors out there that will continue to drive demand, and prices, for graded notes continually up but I'm hitting the pause button on graded note purchases. That's not to say that I'm not hoping for more Ukrainian collectors, I AM, but these factors are facilitating a change of direction in my collecting. Raw notes are readily available, or at least they were,  and I've been gathering them up like crazy in anticipation of sending them off to PMG. 

Since the second 10 & 20 Shahiv notes were listed, they've been relisted twice and the 10 Shahiv is now listed at a Buy It Now price of $94. Pfft, think they'll accept an offer of $87?  If these notes get down around to the $40 range I'll think about it but so far this seller has seemed resilient, and has yet to budge much (if at all) on any of the prices for the Ukrainian notes listed, including the 100 & 250 Karbovantsiv notes that were listed at around the same time as the first four Shahiv notes. 

Tracking the Pop reports is a useful tool and it seems I was correct in anticipating a second set of four notes and determining their relative grades, all good stuff, but I find the end a little anticlimactic. I haven't completed the Shahiv short set, I've 180'd in buying any of the second group notes and I'm pretty sure I've Done A Bad Bad Thing. Probably several. 

P.S.

If you've managed to get through all 5 parts of this journal entry and still have basic motor functions I applaud you.  This drivel would have turned most individuals brains to mush after the first paragraph of the second entry.