As a long time coin collector, I was never really interested in collecting paper currency.

Why not? Currency was hard to store, hard to grade, hard to tell if it was genuine, and hard to price. It was just not the same holding a flimsy paper dollar bill in your hand, as it was holding a heavy Morgan silver dollar. There is no intrinsic value in paper, whereas there is value in the silver or gold in a coin. Currency is also easily damaged if you are not careful with it, and the modern currency designs never really interested me. I saved a few $2 bills I got from the bank, but that was it for my currency collection.

Every once in a while, when I was bored looking at coins on the internet, I would cross over to the currency side of the websites for Heritage or the Collectors Society. What I found there really fascinated me. I was particularly interested in the older large size notes, which are a much larger size than modern currency. I thought that the designs were much more artistic, ornate, and historical, compared to modern notes. When I saw the series of ?Educational Notes? I was amazed at the spectacular vignettes.

But the note that really sold me on currency collecting was the 1886 five dollar silver certificate known as the ?Morgan dollar? note. Wow!! If one collects Morgan silver dollars, this is a must have!! Now if only I could afford a nice one?

I am not sure where this new journey is going to take me, but that is part of the fun.

Here is a picture of my first graded note acquisition, a beautiful large-size gold certificate from 1922.