Fenntucky Mike

You put a smile on my face my friend. One day I'll make it to the 70 club. 
Based on what you've posted and the notes in your sets, you must have one outstanding Fancy S# collection. You could probably start, may be complete, a modern, Fancy # only registry set. Very nice pick ups! There were some solid S# Ukrainian notes recently up for auction, starting price was $300, I was interested but passed as I thought that too high a price. Only one out of the five or six available sold. 
Ah. Ok, that makes sense. I hadn't realized the economic situation in Nicaragua had become so desperate so as to cause a glut of notes to hit the market. I am sad to hear that such a situation has befell the people of Nicaragua, and to hear of the closing of your business.  You are correct in that my part of the world (Michigan, USA) it has been quite the opposite, but things are starting to turn here and not for the better. Anyway, you are also correct in that there are more Ukrainian notes hitting the market due to the situation there but I tend to think that it has less to do with the hardships people in Ukraine are facing and more to do with advantageous sellers outside of Ukraine.
There are multiple factors fueling the Ukrainian banknote market, there was an overall increase in interest in Ukrainian notes and collectors prior to the invasion, the NBU released 6 new circulating note varieties (signature variety) and 6 commemorative notes just prior to the invasion resulting in a glut of modern notes being graded and Über high grades coming from them, increased interest, and now the war, have shook loose some of the older rare notes, specimens, proofs, errors and fancy number notes. Add to that all the money being thrown around and we have a hot market for Ukrainian notes. As I mentioned above I see this coming to a screeching halt in the near future, then we'll see a bunch of notes trying to be off loaded and sitting out on the market place, people will be taking losses. Especially people who were "investing" in common modern notes. Sorry, I don't mean to paint such a dire picture, hopefully I'm wrong.

That’s the way! Yes I’m actually happy that I’m in a position to start acquiring a few more notes also! I haven’t been acquiring too much of late.
And yes I know the feeling when you set a budget for an auction, but I just wanted those perfect notes! I was close with a 69* in the collection but it just wasn’t quite the same! And same here I could have used that money to fill holes with older rarer notes…but I feel like I have joined the 70 club now! 🤩😎
It’s like the below but I’ve been told it’s serial #55 which is cool that it’s a such a low serial #….I had also previously bought some ungraded low serial # notes of this same note inc serial # 7 of the same guy which I’ll have to get it graded one day also! 
I think the issue with the prices was a completely separate issue in Nicaragua itself that had as a result of some political issues which caused the economy to tank in April 2018 onwards….so many local collectors started offloading their collections and there was more supply.
I had the opportunity to purchase beauties but unfortunately I was also not immune to this as I owned a business and property there still. I ended up closing up the business just before Covid hit in 2020 after sustaining heavy losses. And on one of my properties I have had 7 different tenants in the past 4 years and the rent has now halved from what I was receiving pre 2018 which is in stark contrast to what has happened here and no doubt in your part of the world!
 
The exception always is the extremely rare notes which never seem to dip in price. And obviously is not reliant on the local market activity.
I don’t know if you will see a similar phenomenon with Ukraine given what is happening in that part of the world at the moment.

Thanks! I'm pretty stoked about these notes, well any notes I get really. 
I'm not too broken up about loosing the 70/s, there have been several posted of other denominations as well, I just have a hard time justifying going over what I bid when there are things like that uniface specimen I can get for the same money or less than what those 70 notes sold for. Congrats on yours though, can't wait to see them in your sets! 
Huh, it's odd that prices rose pre-pandemic and stabilized during. Have you noticed a drop in prices overall or for individual notes?

Congrats on the wins Mike!! 
 
and a shame about the ones that got away!! Especially the 70*
I was so frustrated about a month back when I was outbid on a 70* note. Which was the first Nicaraguan 70* I had seen available in years!!
Then as luck would have it a Nica collector friend of mine tells me he has a a pair of 70* notes and he would be willing to part with one.
Then luck shines again and another completely different note pops up a few days later and I ended up bagging that one also! 
 
As far as the pricing is concerned fortunately I haven’t seen such noticeable increases in Nicaraguan notes….although there are a few people chasing big dollars for particularly the 1990s graded 20 and 50 Cordobas notes. However I’m yet to see any of these actually sell. However I noticed a huge upswing in prices from 2010-2020.

There also seem to be some agriculture/horticulture medals but these will need a bit of research - some even look like they could be silver

Mike, are you referring to the note I posted?? If you are, thank you very much for the kind words. I believe that note to be one of the notes that would be graded the lowest, as it is off center top to bottom and having been a pressman for 20 years, off centering bugs me. Also if you are, I may post some more to get some of your thoughts on grading. Since it's been a while since I've graded any, was curious if PMG's standards have changed. I have a fondness for ABNC's notes so may post a few more of those.

My thoughts exactly and there does seem to be plenty of information available for certain series e.g. the dos caritos issues, however I was also surprised at the many gaps in the data for a popular collecting area like Mexico - having said that the data on the fractional real coinage has only recently been improved with the excellent books by Brad Yonaka. There are even plenty of discoveries to be made in Napoleonic issues where you would think the records were detailed and available.
There seems to be even less info for the rest of Latin America, which are the only ones I have looked at so far, but I expect it is the same for most of the world - Ukraine??. Although I expect individual collectors may have the data somewhere - like you I tend to (well try to ) record such information and this is now much easier with Ebay and auction records available online. I should say that Simon Prendergast, at the US Mexican Numismatic Association (usmex.org), has been great allowing such findings to update the central records.
Back to the Durango 5 peso issue M1495, there are no graded examples (which probably doesn't help) with the best that I am aware of being two notes in VF with the rest falling into the 'tatty' category. I think the code letters were changed every 2000 notes with the overall sequence repeating every 12000 notes, for example:-
UGT/ITE (vert)*
OIY (vert)/L-AR (vert)
LPS/EID
ERO-/MIR/GON
ERA-/GFA
MA-A
*Almost all relevant blocks that I am aware of largely have a single set of control letters, in a consistent position on the note, however it appears that some numbers (last ~20000?) were issued at different times and it gets a bit random at that point e.g.  should the single example of ITE(vert) actually be in the next block which would then have all the vertical control letters together. I need to find more examples to confirm/fill in the gaps. As you suggest I think this group of notes was a collector trying to put different examples together as this range in a natural accumulation would be extremely unlikely. Several other group lots that I acquired were also made up of a range of series/control letters etc - I wish I had also got the last lot that was available!
[some other Mexican issues change every 2000 and both horizontal and vertical control letters are known]

Fascinating details as some of the Mexican notes have red or black numbers!
I would go for a change in colour due to thickness (concentration) and/or age due to oxidation/polymerisation/exposure to light/reaction with the paper which usually results in pigments going darker with time - my chemistry background means I now want to figure this out Any idea what the inks were?

Fill an empty slot in a collection or upgrade an existing one??? A key problem I have had for coins and now seem to have for banknotes. My coins and notes are usually old enough that top grades 66-70 has never been an issue with 58-63 more realistic however I have recently bought a few more 'modern' notes so I too now have this dilemma although the top grade available may still not go to 68 and then there my only be 1 or 2 examples in the population report.
Having initially started looking at British Colonial notes, to match my coins, there seem to be plenty available although the top grades attracted very high premiums. By contrast I was surprised that the numbers of graded notes for most Latin American countries was surprising low with the exception of Mexico and Colombia. Most countries have less than 3000 in total and with many types having no graded examples at all. Completion of any set looks like I may have to work out how to submit notes to PMG.
We are all mad

Not sure about the glyph but I tend to think that it is a stylized depiction of the man himself, probably not an actual Mayan glyph. One of my favorite video docs is "Breaking the Maya code", it's a couple of hours long but worth viewing if you're into to such things. I've probably watched it a dozen times, usually just playing in the background as I'm working or researching banknotes.
You're stacking up some nice notes.  This note got me searching and I really enjoyed reading about Tecun Uman, and the legend of the quetzal. Never would have known if not for this note. 

Female figures also seem to be used to represent cities and/or states - this is certainly the case in Europe. It doesn't appear to be the common representations of liberty, justice, victory etc as the items usually associated with these do not seem to be there and what is covers a range of things.
Well spotted, the coat of arms for Veracruz does have a pair of pillars on it so I am leaning towards the lady representing the city/state.
This could all be completely wrong of course but adding banknotes to my collection has just highlighted how little I know about anything.
Edit. My first thought was that it could be the roman goddess Pax - often seated holding an olive branch. Great - I now have to see if I can find whether the American Bank Note company call her anything?

Although I have a few specimen and remainder notes, and therefore nice examples of the artwork, it turns out they are often cheaper than the equivalent grade circulated note if you can even fine one. So far just the smaller, and thus common, denominations
Having said that I am waiting for some notes that are at the completely other end of the quality spectrum but I am hoping they will be interesting for a different reason

There may be a Journal Entry or two in the future 

Mike, very interesting as someone who has an interest in die varieties for coins.
I thought PMG didn't grade counterfeits - I assume this applies to modern counterfeits rather than contemporary ones? Their FAQs don't seem to differentiate but I may be looking in the wrong place!

I mean, it could be worse. From August 2008 to Feb 2009 the RBZ released the entire 27 note 3rd dollar run (some with varieties) and the 7 note 4th dollar run. 34 notes in 6 months - not including varieties!
Venezuela was also kinda painful this year. They put out 8 new notes, not that I've gotten into most of that - I only have 2 so far, but 2 of the three that have been out a while. The 5 new ones are still working on trickling through.

When was the last time that they weren't trolling someone?  It's what they do. 

Which is why they're the best at it.  

Damn! 

I'm guessing why 1 & 2 and not 5 $ 10 comes down to the cost - including the cost of the souvenirs/ Collector's items / sheets to the expected buyers and their expectations of what people would be willing to spend. I'm guessing they felt their wouldn't be enough demand for 5 and 10 products to make it worth it.

Man! Everything is still glitchy here. I lost a couple of Journal entries yesterday when trying to save or submit and I hit the Submit Comment button for the above comment and it wiped it. Also, still having to sign in and out.

According to some redditors the first 2 denominations are in the wild but I haven't seen anything yet and I haven't seen the back, just the front. Hoping for at least a new back design. 
I really want that coin to be a thing so I can buy a bunch and send a couple in with my 2022 Z coin submission.

I didn't bid on most all! Paid cash for every one! Collection of over decades of time!

Yep same here, looks like the P85 should arrive today. Glad to see that notes from the website arrive within the same general time period as notes purchased from ebay. I picked up another note from them in an auction on ebay, I did my math correctly this time, and it was a little cheaper than buying direct from the website but I'm definitely cross referencing the prices before I buy anything from them.

Looks like my new notes are arriving today from Noteshobby And my P3s arrived at my in laws yesterday - I'll see them this weekend.

Ah. Well, nuts. I'll have to continue looking for ways to make your life more difficult now.