Revenant

We're getting into 2022 soon with a nice gap since the release of the $50. They may feel brave enough soon to release the $100 while claiming that inflation is still very under control and that they are not abandoning the local currency and that everything is just fine. Just. Fine. JUST. FINE.

Who knows? That may be the plan.

So, where does "Harare" come from? My wife got me back on this question recently. I'd been looking for it a little before but could never find it. Looking for this led me to other answers too, as I said in my last post, but I've finally found AN answer. Maybe it's THE answer, or part of it. From what little I've been able to find in things like the Encyclopedia Britannica, there was a Shona chieftain in the late 19th Century called Neharawa. An area was named "Harawa" after him and then that got "corrupted" / changed to "Harare," which became the name for a predominantly black residential area that is now called "Mbare." I say "corrupted" in quotes because that was the wording used by a source I found on the evolution of "Harare." But clearly the population attaches no stigma or taint to the newer form, or the capitol wouldn't have been named that - they would have used the original "Harawa" in that event, I would think. As it is, I'm not sure why they didn't if what I've found is correct. Unless the intent was to use the name of that residential area and not necessarily to honor this chieftain. But there is an agreeable symmetry in renaming it from the name of the British PM at the time of conquest to a name honoring a Shona chieftain of the same era.

Last I checked the poverty rate was like 80-90% even now and it's basically a kleptocracy. I guess it's good to be the king. Always has been and always will be.

For the following 2 Venezuela Categories, we need to add slots for P-112, P-113, and P-114 - Notes printed in 2020 and released in 2021: Banco Central de Venezuela, 2018-Date, P101-Date Venezuela, 1940-Date, P31-Date, Issued Notes, Complete In the New Zimbabwe category (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, 2016-Date, P99-Date, Issued Notes) we need a slot added for P-105 (50 Dollars).

For a couple of years now I've been saying this image of a high-rise on the back of three 3rd dollar notes is just a "modern high-rise" and that it was paired with the Great Zimbabwe ruins as some kind of past / future, old / new, "progress while honoring the past dichotomy. And that may be true... but what I didn't know until today is that isn't just any building. That is the Reserve Bank Tower... home of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, finished in 1997. For a long time now I've been thinking that there had to be some significance to that building - you don't feature just any old tower on your banknotes... but I could never figure out what it was. Then today I just randomly see a picture of it with the caption "Reserve Bank Tower" while looking for something else online - trying to find the origins for the word "Harare." Now I can get all sorts of trivia on it. It is 393.70 ft tall or 120 meters. Has 28 above ground floors. Construction started in 1993. The style is Postmodernism. It's address is 80 Samora Machel Avenue.

Did you buy this recently from someone / somewhere else? Based on the label it was graded a while ago and this isn't a recent Mechanical Error.

I hadn't been too aware of this but apparently Russian battalions have been massing near the border and they're worried that next year Russia might invade with about 175,000 troops. I wonder how bold they're feeling since I don't see how the US and NATO would get out of responding to that ala that Season of "Madame Secretary."

Which is why they're the best at it.

Very interesting stuff. Gotta love the Russians when they're being trolls.

No late comers. We closed out at 1192 today.

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.

Yup! I just click the "overall ranking" link on my control panel and that pulls up the big ranking of everyone. Then I click to the last page and scroll to the bottom.

I posted in mid-June 2020 that we'd hit 1,000 ranked users on the PMG side of the registry. I checked today just for fun and it is at 1,192 - just shy of 1,200. It would be cool if we could hit 1,200 by Wednesday, but I guess we'll see. 🤷‍♂️ Still, that's a 20% increase in under 18 months.

I'd spend it. I'm not that made of money to keep a $100 bill for a reason I don't find especially interesting.

For most people its just going to lower the value if anything. It's basically worth face IMO.

White paint can't be that expensive... of course... with white you could probably just do primer and call it a day.

So then what are you hoping to know? Value?

Probably wouldn't even be all that expensive as wall paper goes.

Uh huh.... The artwork only got you into the new series a long time after the free shipping and my yapping got you into 2 other series / sub-sets. And in spite of your claims of loving the first dollars I notice those don't seem to be happening without free shipping as a booster to buy a note.

So I go to the website for one of my favorite banknote dealers - one of the larger Asian dealers for PMG notes... and I see... this. This feels like quite a change from early to mid-2019, when Banknote World was dumping Zimbabwean inventory - PMG graded notes included - in 50% off and 60% off fire sales, seemingly desperate to be rid of it all. And that was after they'd already reduced their base prices on a number of graded Zimbabwe notes! I feel like, in the last year, there has just been a massive swing in the interest in these. I think the rising inflation and people using words like "hyperinflation" in American media are getting people interested in these again. The Zimbabwean notes have a big advantage over the old Hungarian and Weimar Germany notes because they are 1) Plentiful and cheap in high grades and 2) They're in English, which is just going to make them inherently more approachable than most other hyperinflation notes, like Yugoslavian notes or even Venezuelan notes.

Always type journals in Word first. Copy and paste over to post.

Funny thing is they run sales constantly, which takes all pressure and incentive off the sale because if you miss one you'll get another about as good in 2 weeks. But the order minimums are probably crippling their business. I will happily drop $25-45 dollars for something I want and I frequently pay a $5 shipping charge to NH for 1 or two notes I want at a good price. But I think long and hard usually before dropping $150 all at once.

If something legit rare pops up that is promised as authentic by a PCGS holder - like a Cargil Cotton Bearer Check, I'd buy it. But anything commonly available already in a PMG holder is a waste of time and money for me.

I think it was about a year or so ago that Banknote World announced they were going to start releasing Banknotes with their TAP (Total Authentication Promise or something like that) notes with these blue labels. Up to that point Banknote World had been a very good source for me on PMG-graded notes. But then they had these things and a lot of their marketing started focusing on these and less on PMG and they never got any newer releases in stock as PMG graded notes – they’d stopped sending things to PMG it seemed. So, this led me to conclude pretty early on that they had either gotten tired of paying fees to PMG or they’d gotten tired of getting saddled with a lot of notes in 65/66 EPQ holders that they had to sell at a loss because they aren’t good at screening notes for submission. But, in either case, they seemingly had decided to “break up” with PMG (and PCGS, but, who cares about them anyway when it comes to banknotes). They made this even more clear about 2 weeks ago when they announced a “clearance sale” and put all PMG and PCGS graded notes on inventory on sale for 25% off. I think the funniest part of their announcement of the clearance sale was them talking up PMG and PCGS graded notes and how recognized and respected they are... and no prominent mention of TAP in that email... Interesting... And now, after abandoning eBay like 3 years ago, they’ve started listing a number of their PMG graded notes on eBay, I’m guessing because their clearance sale didn’t do as much as they’d hoped to clear this inventory they’ve been sitting on for a while. So I take it they are just really desperate to empty out their inventory of these notes. I know I didn’t order from that sale even though they had some 68 EPQ Zimbabwe notes I wanted. Why? Their order minimums – which they keep increasing. It used to be, in 2019, I could spend $20 and pay $4 shipping and get a couple of note I wanted, but if I spent over $50, I’d get free shipping. Then you couldn’t order at all unless you spent $50. Then you couldn’t order at all unless you spent $100. And I don’t always want to spend $100. Sometimes all I want is a small impulse buy. There was more than one time when Sam was in the hospital, and we didn’t have a huge amount of money to throw around and I got to order 2 notes on a 50% off sale for $20 and pay the shipping and get out with 2 notes for my Zimbabwe set for $24. Then in 2020 their customer service became absolute garbage. Every time they screw something up it takes 3 weeks to get a $10 refund from them. And those corroded Zimbabwe coins I got? That was from Banknote World. Never ordering coins from them again. Ever. But, here’s the thing with TAP, and I’m just going to say it: TAP is garbage. Absolute, total, garbage. They put grade RANGES, of 60-70 on notes… which is meaningless. Utterly. Totally. Meaningless. “It could be spun gold (70) or it could be worthless (60-63)! We aren’t going to say! But it isn’t a fake! Which is a promise you’d hope any dealer would make and stand by!” It's like they woke up one day and completely forgot the entire point of Third Party Grading - that, when buying sight unseen, it's nice to know you're not just taking the word of the person selling it to you that it is in good condition and authentic. This is like asking the fox to guard the hen house after serving a few years on supervised probation with a sheep dog. So… Yeah. Garbage. I hope they know what they’re getting into, because especially after PCGS Goldshield cratered, there is 1 sheriff in this town, and that is PMG. PMG owns this space. And they would have almost no chance on a good day, but they are crippling themselves with these non-grade, wishy-washy grade ranges. So. Yeah. Have fun with the “Clearance Sale,” guys. Pack ya bags and “clear” yourselves out. I’m almost certainly never ordering from you again and I’m never order a TAP banknote, even second hand. I’m not helping you establish a market for your dreck.