Fenntucky Mike

I believe this is an image of one of the sides of the new gold coin, obv?

I think this is probably accurate as all the news articles describe the coin as the Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls). Also, all articles describe the coin as being serialized, so maybe a basic design with fineness and serial number on the other side or maybe on the rim? The design is pretty  if the image is accurate. 

On 7/12/2022 at 4:18 PM, Revenant said:

I still have not been able to find pictures of the new gold coins - only images of a coin from 2001 celebrating their gold refinery or something with the Zimbabwe bird on one side and the Black Rhino on the other. Apparently the new coins are going to be one troy ounce which breaks my heart a bit because they're going to be expensive and I think that is going to effectively price me out.  I also think that suggests this is more a ploy for creating collectables for the international market and not for making something for the locals because I think the locals have a poverty rate of 90%, most of them earn something like $2-3 a day (if I remember reading something along those lines right) and the locals are not going to be buying $1,900-2,000 coins. Anyway...

I looked around for that article I mentioned last night but couldn't find it. It was in one of the magazines I get, I thought World Coin News but I'm not sure. There is a chance that I gave the magazine with the article in it away to a couple of YN's that I pass that type of stuff along too. I'll give it one more go tonight, if not we'll have to wait. 

On 7/12/2022 at 4:18 PM, Revenant said:

It's also my hope to fill out paperwork for a submission to NGC on Friday.  

I sent one out a month or two ago, it went through NGC and they crushed the Turn Around time, beat it by a mile.  The results ended up being maybe the best I've ever had.  It was a bunch of modern NCLT, if I knew everything was going to grade that high I probably would have removed some duplicates and added some others. Either way I'm looking at a submission to NGC in the next couple months, after I get my PMG submission back, which should be soon. 

On 7/12/2022 at 8:50 AM, Revenant said:

I sometimes worry that these long journals with multiple posts must make me seem very self-absorbed and self-important or something.  I worry that it isn't a good look sometimes.  

Pfft, nothing to worry about.  The one thing I might do is start a completely different Journal if I veer off of Ukrainian notes and tackle other areas, it would make it easier for me to keep everything organized here and easier to follow. Maybe. 

On 7/12/2022 at 8:50 AM, Revenant said:

Given that there are only 647 entries and the top 4 there make up 341 I think its fair to say that the 4 of us do most of the heavy lifting over here.

 ColonialCoinsUK & VE Coins have been adding some journal entries recently, I haven't seen any of the others post here in a long time. Over a year probably. 

+30 = 3,286

20 Hryven +4

50 Hryven +4

100 Hryven +8

200 Hryven +5

500 Hryven +5

1000 Hryven +3

1000 Karbovantsiv +1

20 Karbowanez +1

200,000 Karbovantsiv -1

Looks like the 2021 commemorative notes are continuing to be sent in, all other issues seem to be quiet for the most part.

Just noticed this but your 100th Journal entry is about a $100 note/s, how serendipitous. 

Congrats on 100 Journal entries, gotta be a record. 

Yeah, I read about that gold coin somewhere the other week, they had a picture of a coin but it was probably a stock image of some sort of bullion. If I can find the article I'll let you know.  

I have one piece of Zim bullion, a commemorative token of the opening of the gold refinery. Wonder if they'll rehash this design? 

Quote

Actual gold coins, struck possibly even for circulation. Can you even believe it?

Not really but we are talking about Zimbabwe so who knows. 

I think they pretty much had to release the $50 & $100 notes. They probably had them printed at the same time as the rest of this series and since they were laying around why not release them. There was pretty much zero chance that inflation was going to reduce or stabilize to a manageable range, what a waste. This series is over. In five years they might try again but I doubt it.

+23 = 3,256

10 Hryven +4

20 Hryven +5

100 Hryven +1

200 Hryven +4

1000 Hryven +1

2000 Hryven +1

1,000,000 Karbovantsiv +4

100 Karbowanez +1

200 Karbowanez +1

200 Karbovantsiv +1

On 6/29/2022 at 6:05 PM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

No idea - I hope they still exist and are in an old collection somewhere. It is on the 'to-find-out' list

 Well good luck my friend, I'll keep my eyes peeled for one of these notes. My finders fee is 1% FMV, but I'll take being able to be in the presence of the note in lieu of payment. BYOB of course and you might want to protect/guard the note in some fashion. 

On 6/29/2022 at 4:53 PM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

Remainders are a great compromise.

Agreed, but those are a deal breaker for some signature fanatics . Not me, I like a big bold signature as much as the next guy but not that much.  At least not enough to pay a large premium for it when there is perfectly good remainder just waiting for me, but I don't run into that problem/choice very often, or at all, with my current interests. That's an awesome 5 pesos note BTW. 

On 6/29/2022 at 4:53 PM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

Apparently the records for the 500 pesos note have 200 printed but 197 incinerated so maybe just 3 issued notes escaped Hoping one turns up at a local UK auction

Wow! Only three left, maybe. Are there any known? If so are they in private hands or museum displays? 

Quote

a 500 pesos issued note is a 'holy grail' item - anybody have one?

That's a big negative!  The 500 pesos is a real looker but with such a low printing (I read 200?), it would probably be out of my budget. 

It's always interesting to me that a great looking specimen, remainder, etc. can often be many multiples less than a really ratty note that was issued/circulated. I understand the attraction and the premium attached with a circulated note of this type and similar notes, but am more often than not pretty content with my specimen, remainder, etc. It's all about the looks with some people. 

On 6/29/2022 at 2:34 PM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

It is great to see that they are still operating even if the plan gets changed!

I've been surprised that they've essentially remained open and uninterrupted this entire time, especially in the beginning when Russian troops were on the outskirts of Kyiv. There were some issues early on with cash availability, exchanges and so on, but for the most part the NBU seems to have done an admirable job in doing what needs to be done.

+48= 3,233

5 Chervontsiv +1

2 Hryven +5

10 Hryven +6

20 Hryven +10

50 Hryven +5

500 Hryven +1

2000 Hryven +1

1 Karbovantes +5

3 Karbovantsi +5

5 Karbovantsiv +5

50 Karbowanez +2

500 Karbowanez +2

The increase for the 5 Chervontsiv is interesting as the only one previously graded was just auctioned off a few weeks ago where it sold for just over 21k, it was graded at 30 the new note is a 50. The notes from this issue are notoriously hard to find.

On 6/26/2022 at 4:50 AM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

Fascinating - the various 0 Euro notes seem to be popular.

There is certainly a lot of them out there, and they've been around for a long time.

On 6/26/2022 at 4:50 AM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

I am always suprised how fast people produce things - I can't do anything that quick

I know, my problem isn't conception it's execution. 

+42 = 3,185

2 Hryven +4

10 Hryven +6

20 Hryven +5

50 Hryven +4

100 Hryven +2

1000 Hryven +1

1 Karbovanets +1

3 Karbovantsi +1

5 Karbovantsiv +1

10 Karbovantsiv +1

25 Karbovantsiv +1

50 Karbovantsiv +1

100 Karbovantsiv +3

500 Karbovantsiv +1

1000 Karbovantsiv +1

10,000  Karbovantsiv +1

1,000,000 Karbovantsiv +1

2,000,000 Karbovantsiv +1

10 Karbowanez +1

100,000 Karbovantsiv +1

200,000 Karbovantsiv +1

20,000 Karbovantsiv +1

50,000 Karbovantsiv +1

200 Karbovantsiv +1

On 6/18/2022 at 8:59 AM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

It looks like TDLR are usually a great source of information however given the thread on Venezuelan specimen notes over at IBNS it appears they are without an archivist at the moment and therefore are not able to help.

From their FAQs at https://www.delarue.com/faqs

How can I enquire about a currency collector question?

During COVID19 we are unable to answer the questions that would previously have been answered by our archivist.

Well that stinks! 

I glanced that thread at IBNS a while back but was hopping that TDLR had gotten back to business as usual. Hopefully they get everyone back in the building or hire an archivist in the very near future.  Not a dead end just a delay. 

On 6/16/2022 at 12:14 AM, VE Coins said:

The authentic notes have the stamp like overprint as well and it is the only note in the first series that used the stamp overprint all the other notes from that time had adhesive stamps. The adhesive stamp notes are cool as well, I have a couple so far. They can be hard to find in decent condition but like this note I'm not sure if they were stamping uncirculated notes or any notes they could get their hands on. The adhesive stamp notes have some counterfeits as well but i don't have any.. The multiple stamps are all the same as far as I can tell. I'm not sure why it was stamped multiple times.

I wonder why they went with a stamp like overprint on this note and not the others? Interesting.  This seems like a wonderful series of notes to collect and research, a fun project no doubt. I look forward to seeing/reading more about Czech notes as you post them.

Sorry just getting back to this, busy day at work. Would an authentic note have an adhesive stamp on it or was it a stamplike overprint? I'm assuming a stamplike overprint since that's what the contemporary counterfeit has, just curious as I've seen actual adhesive stamps used on other notes of the era. Also, it looks like the note was stamped multiple times do they all say "bankovní úřad ministerstva financí, praha" or were there other stamps used? I'm really liking these notes, thanks for sharing. 

It is interesting that it was identified as counterfeit and still survived, seemingly still circulating and/or returned to the owner. Presumably.  Notes and coins would have been hard to come by at this time and it could be as you suggest, that the stamp made this a legal note helping to alleviate demand for physical currency until new notes could be produced. An interesting note with a story to tell, I love notes like this.

Contemporary counterfeits are a collecting avenue all on their own, many countries have dozens of them. 

+36 = 3,143

2 Hryvni +15

5  Hryven +15

1 Hryvnia +5

1000 Karbovantsiv +1

Not sure why such large quantities of the 2 & 5 were submitted, unless there was just a delay in updating the Pop Report. Also, we have surpassed 1,000 Ukrainian notes graded by PMG sine I started tracking the Pop Report on 5/11/2021. 

Quote

So for a single Pick number (115a) it appears there are different signature combinations, front and back, and multiple series, dates etc with no mention of what these are in the SCWPM issue that I have and El Salvador is one of the several Latin American countries missing from the 2014 Banknote Book volumes.

Have you made any progress on identifying the signatures, how many variants, and any additional series letters since posting? A very interesting undertaking and one that will be ongoing, as they always seem to be. For me at least. 

I wonder if TDLR would be a viable resource? This being a modern note they may be able to look in their archives or provide some additional info.  When I contacted Pobjoy looking for mintages for IoM modern coinage that was a bigtime bust.   But Pobjoy is completely dysfunctional, TDLR seems more helpful from what I've read on other forums. 

On 6/8/2022 at 3:07 PM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

Counterfeits vs varieties - the ultimate question!

Or varieties vs errors.  Or acceptable variation/tolerance vs errors vs varieties vs counterfeits in a steel cage match, Thunderdome even. 

On 6/8/2022 at 3:07 PM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

Interesting - I had discounted Option 2 due to the X and I thought 6 was genuine due to the b rather than option 4. Although I thought the flowers between and above the horns in the bottom right corner were better in Option 4

# 2 is is lightly inked, much lighter when compared to the others, and I believe this resulted in some detail loss, especially on the front and possibly on the back making the X seem smaller or "weaker" to use coin terminology. It could also be variation in the engravings but when considering the note as a whole it just has the overall quality in the engraving and inking that I would expect, even though it may not be on par with other notes. Excellent point about the flowers around the horns on notes 4 and 6, again my opinion is that what you are seeing is an inking variation between the notes, #6 seems to have less ink applied than #4 (#4 is the most heavily inked of the three that I believe are authentic) making the detail in the flowers look "weaker" or sloppy. In the same context over inking could obscure some details, especially in the anticounterfeiting grid. A few of those small squares could get filled with ink, or the lines get thicker distorting the grid. The same would go for the detail in the flowers.  I suppose the inking variations that I think we're all seeing could be do to how the paper contacted the plate or how much force was applied as well. 

Great observations and points everyone! An excellent discussion so far! 

On 6/8/2022 at 12:02 AM, VE Coins said:

So I remembered your previous post about these and how they did the grid kind of haphazardly on the fakes and so my initial guess not reading was that 4, and 6 were real the rest were counterfeit. After reading I believe that 4 is fake as well based on the font on the back and that 6 is the only real one. I really like these posts!

I can absolutely see why you believe that only # 6 is authentic, there is definitely variation in the fonts of the other notes when compared to # 6, but I believe that these are caused, in part, by the amount of ink applied (or not) during printing and some natural variation in the engravings/poor quality control. Taking the overall look of the note into consideration, my opinion is that 2, 4, & 6 are authentic. The Tryzub on the back of # 2 is pretty lousy and the font on # 4 is not great, that is a long stemmed "b", but when taking the entire note into consideration I believe them to be genuine and that what you are seeing is more along the lines of a variety/varieties. Excellent eye @VE Coins, well done!  This was a tricky one, heck, I could be wrong and you could be correct. 

I will tell you that while all of the notes posted here are raw, I have seen the # 2 "variety" in a PMG holder. I'll probably have another Journal entry on that later and of the acceptable variances in these notes, at least what I consider acceptable, and whether or not these would be considered varieties. I think not. I'd be very interested to here your opinion on the subject, as well as anyone else who wants to join in. 

+7 = 3,107

20 Hryven +1

100 Hryven +1

200 Hryven +1

500 Hryven +1

1000 Hryven +1

2000 Hryven +1

5 Karbowanez +1

+22 = 3,100

2 Hryven +3

10 Hryven +1

100 Hryven +2

200 Hryven +1

500 Hryven +3

1000 Hryven +2

2000 Hryven +1

10 Karbovantsiv +1

100 Karbovantsiv +1

5 Karbowanez +1

10 Karbowanez +1

200 Karbowanez +1

50 Shahiv +1

10 Shahiv +1

20 Shahiv +1

30 Shahiv +1

+8 = 3,078

10 Hryven +3

500 Hryven +2

1000 Hryven +1

1000 Karbovantsiv +2