...NOT!  Even if it was, I'm not sure it would be enough to pick up any of these beauties. 

As is the norm, I'm striking out on some really sweet notes but at least I've have had the pleasure of seeing some awesome bills go up for auction. It seems more and more rarities and harder to find notes are coming out of the woodwork and are realizing sky high prices at auction. In addition to the rarities, fancy number notes are receiving more attention, an uncirculated 2007, 200 Hryvnia note with radar serial number 6698966 is currently bid up to 97 Euros. Whoa!  Common notes are holding steady unless a variety or condition rarity and banknotes in general seem to continue to pick up steam. Below are some of the highlights from the past few months.

Two fantastic color trial notes went up for auction, along with an amazing printer's design note! I really wanted to snag one of these, especially that printer's design.  Unfortunately, all three slipped through my grasp as I was the underbidder on two and matched on one but my bid was deemed to have been placed after the other bid. 

$537

$600

$685

A couple of 2011, 50 Hryven commemorative notes were auctioned off recently. These notes are a manufactured rarity, with only 1,000 being produced, 200 of which were encased in acrylic blocks leaving only 800 available to collectors. This note annoys me to no end. Granted, with only 800 notes there are not many to go around but 800 examples available is not a low number for a note. It was sold specifically to the collectors market and the survival rate would be very high, probably 800/800, and I have a hard time believing that there are over 800 collectors, or speculators, out there willing to pay the prices these notes tend to achieve. There are just so many rarer Ukrainian notes out there that I'm surprised people go gaga over these, but that's not to say I wouldn't like to purchase one, I absolutely would, just not at these prices. 

€1390 ($1546.86 USD)

$4312.50 Wow!

The 2 Karbowanez notes of 1942 are slightly annoying to me as well, mainly because I see so many go up for auction. It is supposed to be an uber rarity, which it is a rarity, but I've documented at least 26 of these notes by serial number in auctions over the last 2-3 years, with some notes being sold more than once. I see these more than the 2011, 50 Hryven commemorative notes above. At any rate they have an interesting history/story and are tied to WWII and Nazi Germany, which probably helps elevate prices as well. I was a little surprised at the prices realized for the first two notes as their condition is less than stellar, apparently condition didn't play much of a factor as they both sold for Princely sums. 

€4236.4 ($4714.48 USD)

€2880 ($3205 USD)

The next two are currently available to bid on.

Starting Bid €3200 Euros, ends 5/5

Starting Bid €1800 Euros, ends 5/5

Besides the big two there were many other strong prices realized for Ukrainian notes. 

€884.5 Euros ($984.23 USD)

€1081.20 Euros ($1203.11 USD)

€4609.20 Euros ($5128.89 USD)

€2767.2 Euros for the pair ($3079.20 USD). Rare prefix letter "B".

€4105.20 Euros ($4588.06 USD), Uniface specimen.

€4683 Euros ($5211.01 USD), Uniface Specimen

€4969.20 Euros ($5529.48 USD), Uniface Specimen

There were a few notes sold in a Katz auction today that brought strong prices, I'll post those in a reply to this Journal entry as I've maxed out the available space for images.