Fenntucky Mike

Watching an auction like this always makes me wonder about bidding strategy. Is bidding 20+ times on an item going to net you a lower hammer price on an item like this, I tend to think no. One person seems bound and determined to win this note, I think one snipe bid at the end would have served them better. Makes me wonder if they are bidding beyond there means, hopefully not.

If I was a real jerk, I would go back in there and make a minimal bid to drive that price up, just to see. Especially since the leader made another bid against themselves.

Nah, I'm having to much fun watching.

 That $5 70EPQ has flown past $250, looks like a slam dunk to clear $300.

Any guesses as to where it may land $$$$

On 8/9/2020 at 12:03 PM, Revenant said:

Is the length really unlimited on  the signature set side? I thought the 5000 character limit was set throughout.

While I haven't done a word count of my descriptions, I tried inserting them into the Note Description box in my Registry Set and received a notification that the description exceeded the 5,000 word limit. I then put the same description into the Signature Set (with additional text) and it was accepted. So I'm going with the assumption that the 5000 character limit does not apply to the Signature Sets. Maybe there is a glitch in the system, I'm not sure. If there was a glitch, that might explain why the Registry Set would not display the Crylic characters and the Signature Set did. Hmmm, of course it's just as likely to have been something I did.

On 8/9/2020 at 12:03 PM, Revenant said:

you go into a lot of the finer details and security features

I don't expect many people to ready through the full descriptions but if someone has more than a casual interest in the series, the information is there for them and me for that matter. Sometimes it's just easier for me to look at my own descriptions in the registry rather than open the original documents on my computer. The main reason for an essentially duplicate Signature Set to a Registry Set, is so that I can give those fine  details to people who may be interested or are trying to identify a note. 

On 8/9/2020 at 12:03 PM, Revenant said:

with a lot of the finer, smaller details I feel like it can be hard to even see some of those things in the images we can put on the registry.

That is a pet peeve of mine, I wish we could post additional images in our descriptions. That would be sweet if people could add additional pictures, to help highlight what they are describing. For example there are a few notes where PMG does not call out a watermark but there is/are watermarks on the notes, a picture says a thousand words. Maybe even 5,000.

On 8/9/2020 at 12:03 PM, Revenant said:

So are you only adding notes to your signature set as you get descriptions ready? Because you have 140 slots, but hardly any notes in it (11) when I know you have like 50-60 Ukrainian notes in your competitive sets.

Yes, for now I'm adding notes to the signature set as I complete the descriptions, or at least have a rough draft of them. No reason for this other than it just seems easier for me to manage. 

Note to self.

Tried it and it was disturbing, it looks even worse when shrunken down. Some creepy, shrunken, floating head. Weird.  Went back to the old avatar.

I'll keep my eye on that $5 68 EPQ, I might give it a go.

The problem is that like Zimbabwe notes, there seems to be a endless supply of new Ukrainian notes popping up for sale. So I'm mainly focusing on some of those at the moment. Two familiar sellers just put up a bunch of Ukrainian notes and one familiar seller is flooding the market with both, there are currently at least 102 PMG graded Ukrainian notes for sale. I don't think I've ever seen that many up for sale at one time and the PMG population report just keeps climbing every week, these sellers just keep sending notes in. I still say they are looking at registry sets .

Discussing notes in an open forum probably isn't the best when we're looking at going after them but I've seen more tumbleweeds here than people. Banknotes becoming more popular should be a good thing for everyone.

LOL, I threw down a low ball bid on that 70 yesterday, just to see how quickly I would be passed. It didn't take long, less than a day. With 15 watching and 8 days left seems like a cinch to jump past $200, I'm thinking it may clear $300. 

I'm with you, I'd be perfectly happy with a 67 or 68 for this note. 68's for modern world notes are usually readily available at much lower costs.

Cool note, 

I'm surprised there were that many varieties for a one year issue. I'm guessing the number of varieties is in part due to what a pile of hot garbage the government was/is. Looks like there are two other 23e's out there. I don't mind the 15 YEARS on the holder, but the holders in my sets not matching slightly annoys me. Beggars can't be choosers when the right note pops up though.

Just saw a 2019 five dollar note popped up (70 EPQ), Not a fan of PMG keeping unlisted notes off the population reports, makes it a little harder to judge value/rarity.

2 hours ago, Sheik Sheck said:

I think you might receive a red carpet welcome.

I don't like the sound of that, could have a whole different meaning in Zimbabwe. You may not want The Red Carpet Welcome. 

11 minutes ago, Revenant said:

And yet, my shares of gold mining companies aren't really moving all that much - they're even down a little so far today. I'm really not sure what to make of it.

 That is a little surprising, especially since it's not just precious metals that are up, but it's metals across the board. Copper, Zinc, Tin & Aluminium all up since a down turn at the start of the pandemic. You would think that would mean "good times" for your shares.

Note to self.

I may have to make that jumbled up portrait my new avatar.

Did I say gold will break 1800, what I meant to say was 1900. Holy, you know what!

P.S. I did go against my own advise and purchased a fractional gold coin a week ago. It was a coin that I couldn't pass up for one of my sets and as it turns out my cost is now below spot at today's prices.

1 hour ago, Revenant said:

I find it fairly hilarious that this, of all reasons, is why you have Zimbabwe notes. "Well, I'd rather have this than pay for shipping."

Yep, that is exactly what I did, it happened on two separate occasions. I can't remember if the orders didn't qualify for free shipping or didn't meet there minimum order requirement, but at any rate I ended up with an unplanned Zimbabwe note in my cart each time. The billion dollar note was the first and I admit I added that one to the order strictly for the novelty of having a billion dollar note. I added the Agro-Cheque to the second order because I had started doing a little research about Zimbabwe was getting interested, the price was right, at a high grade and what the hell I already had one Zimbabwe note, lets make it two. Now I'm really interested in the first series and am on the brink of going full in on those.

Funny how a collection can start some times.

What is the "(formerly VENUNL1000a)" referring to?

I enjoy following the Cert #'s if possible. I just find it interesting and it gives me a glimpse of the history of that individual note and if it crossed paths with other notes (including notes from different countries) not just in my sets but in other peoples sets. Gives me a glimpse of what these sellers are doing behind the scenes with there submissions, i.e. when submitted, how many, what denominations, etc. Although I haven't been able to translate any of this info into BIG BIG SAVINGS, or that any of it is relevant. It's just another layer of collecting that I've sunk to.

I've been to BankNoteWorld a few times, in fact that is were my two Zimbabwe notes came from. Needed to get my cart total up to qualify for free shipping.

Off topic, but I took a peek over at Banknote World while typing this and they have one add saying "Gold is at a 2012 high of $1800, now is the time to buy before the market moves higher" and another saying "Price Drop Silver Bullion now is the time to buy". I know I'm over simplifying this but striping those statements down to nuts and bolts. Which is it, buy high or buy low? I just find it amusing that they would have two seemingly contrarian statements scrolling back to back. Not that either statement is necessarily wrong.

Seems odd that they would use the same base designs back to back for the series, in different denominations. If you were going to keep the same base designs, I'm surprised that they didn't just tack three zeros onto the original notes then come up with two new designs for the 500 and 1,000. 

Were the Pick #'s changed for the second issue of notes?

Quote

they're all in the older gen PMG holders. And you can tell because they're in that older polymer that has a lower transmittance and has a kind of blue tint to it.

Not a big fan of these old holders, the blueish green tint detracts from the note.

LOL,

Five new listings have just popped over the last 24hrs from that same seller, all in shiny new PMG holders. One would be an upgrade and the other two will fit into empty slots in my sets. The funny thing is that the slots the notes will fit in are Pick # specific, meaning that I already have at least one version of the notes in that base Pick # and the ones posted just happen to be the variants I need for those notes. Let's see if the seller posts any additional notes over the next few days, like another ten. I wish this seller would show the reverse of the note so I could see the cert #, that would help answer the question of were these part of the last submission the seller made, meaning the first seven digits of the cert #'s would match the cert #'s on the notes I just bought. Or if these have new cert #'s, not that it would be 100% conclusive.

Just the nut job conspiracy theorist coming out in me, and to much time on my hands. 

I feel like they were good deals for the most part, I acquired over half of those notes for between $25 - $40. Considering the grading fees plus shipping would probably run me around $22 - 25 a note, plus the cost of purchasing several raw notes so I would be able to select the higher grades, I'm very happy with those prices. Most of the notes pictured are from one seller and it seems that this seller likes to deal in volume and likes to turn over there inventory, so they seem to keep there prices fairly low. I've purchased items from them for a few years now. Its a seller on eBay, one I'm sure you've dealt with and probably most people have dealt with if you're collecting world notes.

Nice,

Nothing like striking while the iron is hot and being able to nearly complete a graded set in a days time. High grades and reasonable prices no less, can't beat that. 

Sounds like the Venezuelan Bolivars were a perfect choice for your next set.

1 hour ago, Revenant said:

We're not going paperless or cashless yet. 

Agreed, but this is just another push towards going paperless. I don't expect that the U.S. will go 100% paperless in the next 50 years (maybe not ever 100%) but by then I would think the production of paper currency will be primarily driven by the collectibles market. In under developed areas/countries it will take longer or we may see a step backwards towards barter systems, pseudo currencies, or people are automatically issued a bank account, who knows what the future will bring but it is interesting to speculate. National Banks around the world are developing digital currencies in anticipation of the future and to retain their market share in the financial system vs cryptocurrency creation by private players. Ukraine has been developing a digital currency, the E-hryvnia, since 2016 and launched a pilot project for issuing E-hryvnia into circulation in 2018. Paperless will not be immediate but it is imminent for the majority. 

People being born now or who have already been born, may not ever use physical money in there life. My 14 year old nephew got into my 1996 Ford F250 and asked me how to roll down the window, I pointed to the window crank/handle and the look on his face was one of disbelief. As was the look on my face, when I realized he had never seen a manually operated window before. He had no idea what to do, as far as he was concerned that truck might as well have been equivalent to Fred Flintstones footmobile. Not that he would have understood that reference anyway. 

I'm in complete agreement that gold will begin to fall fairly soon (I hope), I tend to think it will break 1800 before a gradual decline back down to 1500 or less. My guess would be that it will take at least a year probably more like two before gold drops back to 1500. Love the charts and the thought process on banknotes, it's nice to have that kind of data available and extrapolate, not sure if I could find the same info for lesser know world notes but I'll check it out.

I do have a pretty good stack of small size NBN (exclusively Michigan) which I've collected over the years along with many notes from wildcat and state banks (all Michigan) and some odd and ends. Took a break from U.S. currency for a while but maybe now is the time to ease back in, maybe a nice easy FRN series. Asian notes are still going nuts, especially if you have the right S#. Was contemplating a S. Korean set, so many choices. 

2 hours ago, Sheik Sheck said:

BTW Revenant is your man on Zimbabwe notes!

You're right about that, his posts are the main reason I was sniffing around the Zimbabwe first series. 

PMG should have given out a door prize for # 1,000 🥳

Welcome aboard # 1,000!

You can request a new set or slot on the PMG Chat Boards. Go to the PMG Registry forum and reply to PMG Registry - Request a new slot or set here!, or email them at registry@pmgnotes.com. They'll review your request and make a decision. I don't think I've seen a set that has separate slots for specimens. Be interesting to see if it happens.

Agree, I'd be nice to have a set or sets for each country that have all notes and variants. But man, you'd be talking 100's if not 1000's of notes for some countries/sets. To use the Zimbabwe registry as an example, it is actually set up quite nicely with sub-sets, which would be nice goals to complete on the way to a full set. If all the sub-sets included varieties a complete set would be a little redundant, it would still be nice to have complete sets with all varieties no matter how the individual registries are structured. 

Why isn't there a Zimbabwe Complete 1980 - Date set in the registry, or say a P1-12 including varieties? 110 is a lot but there are many other sets with higher counts, Zimbabwe certainly has enough PMG graded notes to support larger more comprehensive sets. 

Nice get, by the way.