ColonialCoinsUK

On 4/1/2023 at 5:36 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

since you've given yourself a big selection of notes to chose from only adding a handful a month actually shows restraint.

You give me too much credit I just find it very difficult to write the description of the bank and the note, either finding information or without it turning into an epic and I thought adding ~5 each month should be possible 

On 4/1/2023 at 5:36 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I was looking over the A.I.S. and was wondering why you went with moderns for some of the examples? Venezuela particularly caught my eye. Was this the time period you found most interesting, availability of examples, cost, etc.?

I tend to buy what I like the look of at the time and whether I can afford it or not. This all started whilst putting another set together and Venzuela and a few other countries didn't really feature in that at all, and I have to balance 'missing banks' with examples from certain countries and issues that I am doing some more detailed research on. Over the last year or so I have tried adding examples from the earlier banks in Venezuela but there seems to be 2 or 3 collectors very active in this area resulting in extremely strong prices As there are so many other banks to add from across Latin America I expect adding these to Venezuela may have to wait a while.

More moderns may feature in the April additions - but the security features for some of the notes I was going to add means they don't scan

@Fenntucky Mike papermoneyofmexico.com is a fantastic resource for Mexican notes and must have taken many years to assemble the information from collectors, auction houses, banks, printers etc. There are still plenty of gaps though and I have passed on extra S/N ranges, control letters etc and these get added very quickly which is great - which reminds me I have some more to send. If any one has extra info let Simon know, he has done a fantastic job.

However, the information for almost all the other countries in Latin America does seem to be less readily available, and may not actually be recorded anywhere, and that's for the post World War II main issues! The earlier issues, and those from the smaller private banks are even more of a challenge and the 'Impossible Set' was just my way of trying to start organising things - now I need a website. I am mainly gathering information for three of the countries at the moment and I wish they kept records as well as Ukraine as some central banks do not seem to know who signed some of their own modern banknotes

@Fenntucky Mike well spotted, the signature is Julio Calvo authorising the bill for the Government as it was a private bank. One of the reasons I picked this note was that the signature was in red as the only info I have is that the signatures were stamped, and in black or blue. All the other examples I have seen match this so it may just be Series EE. It looks red to me but as you will appreciate this may be another case of it being the only colour available at the time or changes over the long-term? 

Even though there seems to be plenty of gaps in the records for major issues these smaller banks are going to take a lot of research 

@Fenntucky Mike Great information as usual - the NBU probably read your Journal to work out what they are supposed to be doing and when!

You just need to track down who the first 100 notes went to, and then persuade them to part with them

@Fenntucky Mike I would class that note as 'square' ! Great detail and an essay to read whilst you consider spending it.

There seem to be a few others about, odd ones from various countries but most square ones I have seen appear to be mainly early French and Dutch issues. I think the kids would just confuse them with post-it-notes.

@Fenntucky Mike this is a fascinating study. My first thought was that the notes were just a uniface proof - or is that too simple? colour trial?

This may explain the slight differences in the fibres as slightly different paper was tested etc as the design/production process was finalised.

Anyone at the printers that could be contacted?

It is good to see that they are still issuing new notes.

I wouldn't be able to keep up with new issues which is probably why most of my coin and note sets deal with periods from long ago. An exception is probably El Salvador but there is still an end point as they now use the US dollar!

Everytime I see the 100 Hryven note I wonder why they put Ronnie O'Sullivan on it?

Great notes, Czech and other Eastern European notes seem to becoming very popular at the monment - a big growth area??. As there seems to be a shortage of ungraded notes, it is probably worth submitting some to PMG as graded versions are sought after and will only become more so.

I plan on sending some Latin American notes when I can figure out the best way to post them from the UK

On 12/31/2022 at 10:14 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Love the Newp's! 

Not to go off topic but are you able to access the Chat Boards via desk/laptop or are you working off your phone or tablet? I haven't been able to get on accept when using my phone. Not ideal for me. 

Thanks - the more I find out the more diverse and interesting things are. It is not just coins and medals where there is a surpringly lack of information!

I am currently using my laptop as I can't do much from my phone at all as it needs an upgrade - apparently my provider will no longer support it from Easter 2023

On 11/22/2022 at 12:31 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I expect that you will get very far very fast which leads to the question of how soon will the Banco's wing of the ColonialCoinsUK National Collection of Paper Money Museum open. That's a lot of notes!

Very unlikely!

I think 50 notes would be straightforward as nearly half of them would be current issues, as most countries seem to have had the same 'bank' since the 1920's until now, and therefore should be easy enough . This leaves just 1 or 2 'banks' needed from each country which should also be OK - possibly adding lots of Mexican banks, so 80 notes? Then things start to get really difficult for the next 100 and that's only just getting started - so a long term project

On 11/14/2022 at 11:20 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

So, will you be chasing the seal varieties and are there any known counterfeits from Montoya in existence? 

Very unlikely to be chasing revalidations etc as there are lots for the Revolutionary period - almost as many as notes!

It seems that whenever a town fell to one side or the other the local bank was the first target to revalidate existing currency or to acquire the printing press to make new notes. When an army abandoned a town taking the printing press with you was a major priority

I expect there are contemporary counterfeits about but I haven't seen one  - hopefully safe in collections.

Looks like a great reference book, with lots of detail which seems to be lacking for most countries.

@Fenntucky Mike I am allergic to writing on books, only just coming to terms with writing on PDF files

On 10/28/2022 at 11:27 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Your set has motivated me to try and complete one set this year, meaning adding a worthwhile set description and information on the individual notes, and I'm totally stealing the idea of including images in the description as well. 

HTML has been trial and error but at least it is a start. Something like  'The 12th Denticle's'  1 Peso Coins of The Philippines NGC Set Description being a goal.

https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/wcm/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=32398

On 10/28/2022 at 11:27 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

It's so nice to have some short sets like the Banco de Tamaulipas for people to collect, this is something that is severely lacking for the Ukrainian registry. It's much harder to wrap up a 100+ note set at the last minute. 

A lot of the PMG sets are very long indeed compared to the NGC coin sets, I am sure many of these can be broken down into smaller sets by printer/name of currency/groups of years if there are big gaps for issued notes etc. Some sets already have these smaller sets in addition to the 100+ 1900-date options! This should be possible for Ukraine?, you may just have to ask PMG nicely

On 10/20/2022 at 11:57 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I'd love to come up with a reason to keep it but I'd say this is a spender.  Of course I do have several "spenders" in my collection but keep them under the guise of a rainy day fund. So...

If you like it keep it. 

I will probably keep it until I need to spend it, so for now I too will describe it as emergency cash savings

On 10/9/2022 at 2:05 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I had forgot to mention that but yes, I agree! A registry effect and perhaps a broader acceptance of graded notes in Europe? Or Americans finding graded banknotes wherever they can and European auction houses placating/acquiescing? Probably a little of both. I also think that European collectors are WAY more into varieties than U.S. collectors and TPG's think, they may not be on equal ground but the appetite for varieties is there and is not even close to being sated.

I don't think it is a Registry effect at all given the number of participants, although this may be the case for some selected modern issues, I think, like world coins, it is now normal to buy things unseen and from all over the place and grading gives a bit of comfort to the buyer in terms of the state of the note - actual identification of the note is a different matter though

I didn't get the my top picks I was after at Katz, I didn't get the 70 that I thought may be possible at a different auction either and funds I was trying to release for the upcoming sale at Heritage are delayed.

Plenty of others to choose from though and I even managed to complete a Set - all 5 notes!

On 10/8/2022 at 11:25 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I was watching the Katz auction this morning at work and there were tons of amazing notes going for BIG money. I did manage to pick of a few low end notes in that auction that I didn't post here, some notes with cancellation punch or stamp varieties that I added to my collection, a fancy number note and a forgery done to target collectors. I'll post those later.

I will be watching the Katz auction tomorrow so may pick up a couple if the price is right.

On 10/8/2022 at 11:25 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Do you think the strong prices realized in auctions in Europe are due to a strong Dollar, American collectors, coin people getting sick of high prices and shifting to banknotes? I've been reading a thread in a predominately U.S. note forum and they are seeing the same increases in prices across the board, especially in high dollar/rare notes. The common theme/s across most banknote chat boards are the rising prices and will they collapse and when. 

The strong dollar is probably playing a part but I think the fact the market seems to have brought out rare notes that have not been seen for a long time is more critical. Graded notes also seem to be achieving a premium and many of the rare notes are being newly graded, and not just those in top grades, but across the whole range.

Given coin and medal prices seem to be still going up after quite a few years it wouldn't surprise me if notes follow this pattern - I knew that years ago I should have collected British Colonial notes alongside the coins

On 10/8/2022 at 11:13 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

A bigger budget!  That's a jealous rage emoji if you couldn't tell. 

Bonez has some very high grade notes in that set, including a 70! There are quite a few 70 notes in that series and I have seen several go up for auction but that's not something I will be chasing, for modern's 68 is my number, on occasion a 69 if the price is right. I've talked about this before, but I just can't justify using my limited funds chasing notes graded 70, too many other notes out there that I would rather have. That's not to disparage others who do go after 70 notes, I get it, just not my thing. 

 

Same here, although a 70 is appearing shortly and if the price isn't silly I may just bid so I have one. Personally, as with coins I find the search for new varieties more interesting - I don't have any 70's in metal either

@Fenntucky Mike Congratulations on picking up some great notes and even completing a year set. Pity that some got away though, hopefully it will not be long before they appear again.

There has also been lots of Quality and rare Latin American notes recently including those appearing over the next few weeks but prices being achieved have been amazing, I have usually been outbid, sometimes massively, but I have managed to pick up a few 'common' notes though which keeps things ticking over When everything is in Dollars or Euros the low Pound doesn't go very far

@Revenant@Fenntucky Mike

So what has Bonezdogg got that you two haven't ?

Fantastic and invaluable information as usual

It would be great if catalogues could also include UV images of notes.

A similar thing happens with the El Salvador 1983 5 colones (Pick134) where the serial number in Series BJ-BZ fluoresces green under UV light whereas for Series HA-UA the serial number does not! I don't have the UV images How do you scan notes easily at home to get the images????

Some people collect different coin holders, and the different generations within each type of holder, so why not the same for banknotes - you are a pioneer

Personally I only have a few PCGS in addition to PMG although I expect a few ICG holders will also appear over time given Latin America's links to Spain, I was a bit surprised I didn't already have any.

You seem to be missing the new PMG one with a QR code so you need to submit something quick

I have seen various size and numbers of circle punches, even star shaped punches in addition to cut sections/corners and needle punched words but the square punch seemed to be a bit unusual and it doesn't even leave a nice clean hole!

Compared to the others the nearest lion is certainly looking backwards, no doubt wondering what happened

Smaller gold coins on the way!

https://www.herald.co.zw/smaller-gold-coins-set-for-release/

On 8/14/2022 at 5:30 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Did the Euro ever circulate widely in the UK, do you see less of them now after Brexit?

As the UK never joined the Euro it has always just been the Pound - some airport shops allow you to pay with either though

Fascinating - I wasn't even aware that Russian notes circulated in Ukraine.

I suppose we do have Scottish and Northern Irish issues circulating alongside the English versions - as I am in the far North the Scottish issues are quite common but my experience is that the further south you go shops etc will not take them as they think they are not real and 'funny money'