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Revenant

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Journal Entries posted by Revenant

  1. Revenant

    Coming up on 1200.

    By Revenant,


    Registry Awards
    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.
  2. Revenant
    So we're about 17 days away from the cut-off for consideration in the 2020 Registry Awards. The ad campaigns so to speak are in full swing - I've gotten the emails, seen the Instagram and Facebook posts. It's hard to miss when you follow their social media and spend time here. Anyway...
    This has gotten me thinking about how far the Zimbabwe set has come in the last year - something I take a lot of pride in. While my 3rd dollar set has been largely static at 92%, this year I think I've brought my 4th dollars from about 45% to 100%, my 2019-present series from 0% to 100% (as soon as the $20 comes in the mail in a few days) and made by biggest strides by far (IMO) in building out a 1st dollar set with an increasing number of varieties. I think my signature set has gone from having about 65 notes and about 90 slots to (soon) 104 notes with 110 slots.
    But I'm kind of kicking myself for something - I never screen-capped or made a record of what the set looked like at this time last year.
    PMG, unlike NGC, doesn't seem to save and post an archived record of what the #1 set in each category is each year - not that this would have completely solved my problem though because not all of my sets are #1 ranked. But it would have helped.
    So, I'm really kicking myself for that. Because I can't help but feel like it'd be cool to be able to see how the set grew and developed from Dec 2019 to (soon) Dec 2020, not just in terms of % completion but all the work I've been putting into refining my descriptions - including attempts I've made in some areas to reign myself in and make myself say less and not go on unnecessary and self-indulgent tangents too often.
    Side Note: But as my Venezuela hyperinflation set starts to flush out with a full set of Fuertes notes and some Soberano notes, I think I'm going to make a Signature set for those next year so I can present that set the way I want to. I'm also going to have to decide what i want to call it. I've considered naming the sets "Gradually, then suddenly: Zimbabwe" and "Gradually, then suddenly: Venezuela," but I'm not sure I like that and I'm not sure that the referenced quote fits Venezuela in the same way it fits Zimbabwe (purely IMO).
  3. Revenant

    Well, let's just call them out on it!

    By Revenant,


    Venezuelan Bolivares Soberanos
    I found a Yahoo Finance article that takes the digital bolivar - newly born less than 2 weeks ago - and throws it right under the bus.  

    Let's just lay it all out there:


    So I guess, after a lot of uncertainty and talk and murkiness, it is official. It's not a CBDC. It is not blockchain based.
    This is like the Long Island Ice Tea company renaming themselves "Long Island Blockchain" to cash in on the hype and get bid up - which actually worked on at least a short term basis for the company I think.
    How sad... They don't even want to bother printing the notes anymore but they can't go cashless because too much of what little of an economy is left depends on cash transactions.
    Per the article, just like in Zimbabwe, the 3rd redenomination is more about banking, computers and software than anything else. Also like in Zimbabwe with the 4th dollar (now the 4th Bolivar) it is going to be large irrelevant because the economy is mostly dollarized and using the US dollar and the people are fleeing / rejecting the new currency before it even gets out the gate.

    So, at this point we're up to three redenominations having removed 3, 5 and 6 zeros respectively. So Venezuela is up to having lopped off 14 zeros in 3 redenominations in about 14 years..
    Zimbabwe did 3, 10, and 12 and removed 25 zeros in 3 changes of currency in about 3 years- making the Venezuelan's look like amateurs! Total novices, really.
    I was pretty against the idea of continuing past P-114 when I thought this was going to have a blockchain component. Given that this is just a new fiat currency with a disingenuous name, I'm a little more inclined to continue with the new Bolivares. This does kind of wreck my "Strength and Sovereignty" name...
    "Strength and Sovereignty, Blown to Digital Bits?"
    .
  4. Revenant

    Some slightly glorious and magical thinking here:

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Banknotes
    So I ran across this and couldn't help but laugh.
    First: They're showing a picture of a 67 EPQ graded note for the listing but they aren't selling PMG graded notes. They're selling a brick of uncirc notes. But don't worry! The picture is for reference only! It isn't meant to deceive the buyer in any way!
    Second: At this price, for 5,000 notes, that puts the lot at $2,000 per note. Even if they were selling PMG graded notes these notes would go for ~$200 if you were getting a good price and selling them individually.

    And there's 2 available!
    It always makes me laugh when I see these things . The simple fact that these things (the 20 trillion, the 50 trillion, and the 100 trillion) can be bought by the brick in uncirc condition is the best proof you should need that they probably shouldn't be going for $50-200 each!
    I like this series but I see this and immediately think, "Oh come on now!?!?"
    … and 607 watchers! Lots of popcorn I think. 

    This can be such an odd series to collect just because there are so many people out there that just don't seem to have gotten the memo that the hype these things had 10 years ago is gone and the supply glut is still real and the bottom fell out of this set.
    If I remember right I bought my P-91 about 5 years ago in 67 EPQ for $45 and I think that's one of the few notes in the series going for more now than it did 5 yeas ago.
  5. Revenant

    Surprise in the mail today!

    By Revenant,


    Registry Awards
    So I'm outside in the driveway cleaning out trash from my wife's car (it got a bit trashed when we resorted to camping out in it for warmth the week of President's day) and the mail carrier drives up and drops off this yellow padded envelope - which is a complete head scratcher to me because I wasn't really expecting anything.
    I open it up and it's the PMG "Best Presented" Plaque - just the PMG one; I'm guessing the NGC Journal one is coming soon and on its own.
    I'm really shocked at how fast NGC and PMG have been on getting these things out the last couple of years considering what I know of how long it takes to just get these things made by a 3rd party company and delivered to you. They must be getting the orders over to the award company almost as soon as the announcement is made or even sooner / before the announcement to get them out to us this fast. I was really shocked to get my Journal Award last year on March 2nd but PMG has done one better this year by getting it in just before the end of February. I'm going to be really happy if the NGC one comes early next week and they repeat last year's fast turn-around on the NGC side.
    I can't say I could at all blame NGC if they're a bit slower getting theirs out this year than PMG - they have way more to send (like 5 times more) and they're sending out those special coins this year (Side note, but I'm super curious about what that coin is going to be... Did they ever say publicly?)
    As soon as I opened it and saw what it was I showed it to Shandy and Sam was right next to her. He immediately flipped out and demanded that it be given to him and took an immediate shine to it.


    Seriously. He seemed really into it. I think because it is black and, yet, somehow still shiny.

    I eventually got to have it back...

    I gotta say, it is a trip to get to have "Best Presented" awards on the NGC and the PMG side. Maybe it's time to start some shenanigans on the Comics (CGC) side?  (Wife seems very firmly opposed to this lol)
    It has been a stressful few weeks here in Houston. This brightened my day in a really nice way.
    Edited to add:
    Also last week I got my 3rd note storage box and finally got my notes all in the new boxes, taking some time out to do that as "me time" as a break from cleaning the house. I had to cram the two boxes of Zimbabwe notes a little more full than I prefer for the convenience of flipping through so I could fit them all. I definitely need a 4th box soon / at some point. Especially with some plans / hopes to add to the Zimbabwe note set soon with some graded traveller's cheques. 

  6. Revenant
    The other day I was watching "Storage Wars: Northern Treasures" on Netflix, mostly using it as background noise while I took care of feeding the boys breakfast in the morning and keeping everyone happy while Shandy is working on the boys have been feeling under the weather.
    I was temporarily distracted and not really paying attention to the TV when Shandy, who had come down for breakfast, told me to look at the TV. A couple of the "geniuses" on that show had found a bunch of circulated Zimbabwean notes in a mattress in circulated condition and they were going nuts over them. They were getting really excited and I'm just thinking, in that condition, most of the notes are just worth a dollar, maybe two, as a novelty. There's too many of most of those notes in uncirculated condition and even the uncirculated notes are cheap - usually $4-5 each. There's just not much demand in the market for circulated notes because of that.
    Still, kind of interesting and funny to see.
    Shandy picks up on these things now, now that she's had to endure a solid year of me talking and obsessing about them after she made the - perhaps, in retrospect - foolish choice of trying to give me one as an anniversary gift and re-igniting my interest in building the set in January 2019.
  7. Revenant

    "Clearance Sale." Ha! Clearance yourself!

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Notes
    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.
  8. Revenant

    I can put a fork in this again... (for now?)

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Notes
    After my wife bought all three of the Rhodesian pennies I was looking to maybe get with my collecting money for my birthday () I had some cash available to me, and then I saw a 68EPQ P106 note for Zimbabwe pop up from one of my favorite dealers that I've gotten most of the new notes from this series from.
    They were listing it for $35+$5 shipping so I decided to try for it. No one else bid and I took it.


    Unfortunately I can't add it to my signature set right now because it appears the PMG servers in Florida that the site needs to confirm the cert# are down.
    I'm hoping everyone out there with PMG and NGC are doing okay. My wife works remotely with a Florida-based company that's in Gainesville. From what she tells me they have all made it through okay but some are also without power.
    I already have a description / commentary written up for it to go into my signature set with it once the servers are back up and I get another chance to add it.
    This note makes me caught up with this series for probably the first time in a year or more. I didn't get the $50 until this one was coming out and I've just been constantly behind on this while I focused on Venezuelan, Zimbabwean and Italian coins. So it feels good to finally get caught up again.

    Mike may note that the grade is a 68. Now that I'm reaching pretty happy, stable points with some of the coin sets, I'm likely to take a break from some of those for a while, until next year when I start to prepare another submission.
    I'm starting to feel the temptation and maybe have the budget to put towards upgrading some of those 67s and 66s in this set to 68s as notes become available at prices I'm okay with.
  9. Revenant
    The P-2e is an interesting note (one of a few 1994 issues, along with the P-1d). It is a somewhat rarer variety than the P-2d, but when you look at the two, on the surface, they look pretty much the same. The difference between the P-2d and the P-2e (and the difference between the P-1c and the P-1d) is that the earlier issue uses the first version of the Zimbabwe bird watermark while the later issue uses the newer, second version of the Zimbabwe bird watermark that was used in later issues, including the Series 2 notes.
    Zimbabwe started rolling out the Series 2 notes in 1994 and 1995 (and retired the $2 denomination, replacing the P-1 note with a $2 coin). So, between their replacement mid-year of the prior issues with the old watermark and their subsequent replacement with completely new designs, these notes were not in print long.
    Pictured below for comparison is my P-2c, from 1983. I don't have a 1994 dated P-2d at this point. We'll see what the future holds there.

    The P-1c is fairly common and cheap, seemingly almost as common and inexpensive as the P-1b, and it’s just a watermark that separates it from the P-1d – which is one of the rarest and most desirable notes in any Zimbabwe note collection. 
    I can say that with the P-1c and P-1d because I have seen P-1c notes come up for sale in 67 EPQ and sell for less than $30 in most cases 3 or 4 times now. I have hardly ever seen P-1d notes and they tend to go for more in the $120+ range.
    It’s harder to make this argument, for me, from what I’ve seen, with the P-2d and the P-2e because I’ve now seen two P-2e notes sell for $51 or less, but I have not yet seen a P-2d come up for sale.
    This makes it difficult in most cases to try to shop for a P-1d or a P-2e on the internet, in raw, ungraded condition, because sellers typically don’t include pictures where they’re holding the note up to a light to show off the watermark and it’s the watermark that makes literally all the difference - the dates and signatures are the same.
    From a registry perspective, these notes are interesting in that they are competition drivers that play an outsized role in making sets competitive (or not) in the 1st dollar category. And they seem to be more scarce on the market but their prices aren’t much higher in practice - I’m sure because there aren’t many 1st dollar collectors compared to 3rd dollar collectors and there aren’t all that many 1st dollar collectors that are crazy enough to build full variety sets or to try to hunt down the rare varieties instead of settling for the more common ones - most people probably would not care to pay extra for a P-1d and would rather just get a P-1b. The notes are nearly identical.
    A P-2c in 66 EPQ gets 45 points but a P-2e in the same grade gets you 357. I paid about $30 for the P-2c and paid about $51 for the P-2e. More, but not 7 times more.
    A P-1b gets 37 points in 66 EPQ but a P-1d gets 584 - which can make it hard to compete in the category if someone else has a P-1d and you don’t.
    The point values on these notes seems to be more reflective of their relative rarity and not necessarily their price - and we all know, per NGC/PMG that the scores are not based exclusively on price. But you also can’t draw many conclusions about relative scarceness or desirability because these things are rarely graded in general and the more common varieties are generally not worth enough after grading to justify the grading fees - so their relative numbers in the pop reports are not at all indicative of their relative commonness overall.
    This dynamic has made me keen to try to go for some of these rarer varieties when one comes up for sale and the seller is asking something close to a reasonable price. But the problem sometimes becomes that the seller is asking what I do not particularly feel is a reasonable price. And, when the thing sits unsold for months, it suggests to me that the others out there that buy these things also don’t feel like it’s all that good of an ask. But, when you’re dealing with something that only comes up for sale very infrequently - especially already graded in a very hard grade - it can be extremely hard to argue this point with the dealer or get them to come down off those asks. And then the things just sit in inventory for a year or two or three.
     


  10. Revenant
    I keep finding myself eye-balling 68EPQ examples of the P-1b, the P-11b and things like that in the sub-$40 range and I think I'm not going to be able to fully talk myself down from upgrading over time even though the practical side of me says I shouldn't.
    Collecting, ultimately, is not practical. Lol
    I keep trying to tell myself that 66EPQ notes are perfectly good, gem uncirc examples and rationalizing that the difference between a 68 and a 66 is subtle at best - especially in the holders - and that the 66s are perfectly consistent with the goals I set for the set in 2015...
    But things have changed since 2015! The 68s aren't $100 anymore. Contrary to what one dealer in Florida has been hyping for 6+ years, most of these have not held up well and people paying top dollar for 68s in 2015 are sitting on steep drops in value now.
    Which will help serve as a reminder to keep the prices I pay on the lower side and not completely forget practicality. I've paid over $100 a few times now for some specific notes and that may even happen again but I get really reluctant around $50.
    And I think a slow, gradual upgrade process may be inevitable. I just don't know that I'll be able to fully keep myself from impulse buys over time as I also work on other things and this becomes less of a major focus for me.
    To my surprise, I even find myself, I think for the first time, considering upgrading my 10G coins - getting MS66s to bump up some of the 65s and make that set just that little bit stronger over time - the 1876 and 1877 are particularly appealing for this. They're common and pop up in MS66 often enough to make it an easy and affordable upgrade if I ever decide to bite the bullet. But those will be harder sells. I suspect those will have to wait until after I get 20 Kroner and Swiss 20F coins that I want for my world gold type set.
  11. Revenant

    So, about that "Digital Bolivar" and those notes...

    By Revenant,


    Venezuelan Bolivares Soberanos
    So August was a crazy month with the move and both kids starting new schools and Shandy starting a new job and the cruise. September hit with sickness, covid scares, dead car batteries...
    So the news of the Digital Bolivar hitting around August 6th was pretty much perfect timed for me to completely miss it. What time I did devote to coin and currency collecting mostly went to obsessing over my Zcoin submission.
    Yes! The BCV timed the release of this leak to thwart me! I do not overstate my own importance with this post at all in any way.
    This announcement of a Digital Bolivar seems like a disappointment and a mess rolled into one... these 5 new notes all using the same portrait of Bolivar that they have used for the last 7 VES notes... Talk about phoning it in...

    Also... A coin!!! I wants it! I'm gonna get it! 
    While they did essentially change the colors and reprint from the first to the 2nd series of the VEF, when they did the 2nd redenomination and rolled out the VES you got a new 8-note series with mostly new portraits (mostly) and new back designs. When they reused the portrait from P-108 for P-109 to P-114 we at least got a new back design.
    I haven't seen the back of these yet but I'm REALLY hoping they at least changed the back to a new image / park/ landmark.
    The articles I've seen suggest that there will indeed be new physical notes for the new "Digital Bolivar," which honestly makes almost no sense. I just read this and think, "Why?!?" How is it even a digital currency if you print notes? There's been some confusion from what I've seen on if the new Digital Bolivar will be blockchain based or not but I just can't imagine why they wouldn't make it block hair based - the petro was going to be, if it had ever really gotten off the ground. I guess we'll see if this one does better than the petro. I kinda doubt it. But if this tanks they'll have tainted the name "Digital Bolivar" forever.
    About 3 or 4 months ago I'd rather foolishly drafted out comments / descriptions about some of this for P-112, P-113, and P-114 notes, wrongly thinking that there wouldn't be more major developments until 2022 and I'd get to buy those three notes and have those comments be reasonably current for a while.
    Well, I now own 1 of those 3 notes, and those comments have been dated for almost 1.5 months.  Back to the editing room...
     
  12. Revenant

    So, where does "Harare" come from?

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Notes
    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.
  13. Revenant
    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.
     
  14. Revenant

    The person on this note...

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Notes
    I finally found a reference that names who the person on the back of the new $50 note is supposed to be... Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana, aka Mbuya Nehandra

    A female hero of the “Chimurenga,” or what is now called the “First Chimurenga,” which was the war of the native Africans to fight the British South Africa Company in an attempt to stop the colonialization of Rhodesia / Zimbabwe. She was a spirit medium and spirit leader of the Shona. She was captured and executed in 1898. It is believed she was born around 1840 and she would have been 45-50 at the time of her death. In the lead up to and after independence (the war for independence became the “2nd Chimurenga“) she was honored by Zimbabweans with statues, street names, naming hospitals, songs, novels and poems.
    I'm wondering what they based the image on. I can't imagine there are many surviving photos or portraits of someone who was born, lived, and died in pre-colonial Southern Africa, but I could be wrong about that. By 1890 photography was getting more accessible.
    Wikipedia just shows the one image: It looks like there are a LOT of statues of her in Zimbabwe based off this one image but it does look like there are others.


  15. Revenant

    The P-72 at last. :)

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Banknotes
    Today I officially got a P-72 Zimbabwean banknote for my wife for my birthday. I think it actually came right around a month ago but as of today it is officially “mine” and I can list it. Anyway… 
     

     
    It came with a circulated 500,000 note as a tag along.
     

     
    At a whopping $265 – a very high price tag for this set, making it cost about 1/10th as much as the rest of the 100-note set combined and beating the next most expensive note by a factor of ~2.5 – this was a bit of a painful one to pull the trigger on but I just had to have this or I don’t think I’d ever be able to feel fully satisfied with the set.   
    This is / feels like a pretty big thing because it finally completes my 3rd dollar banknote set by pick #. 
     
    This means the list of accomplishments in my Zimbabwean banknote collection (Gradually, then Suddenly) for 2021 includes: 
    First dollar banknote set complete by pick # - I added the P-3 at last. 
    First dollar traveller’s checks complete by pick # x2 sets 
    2nd dollar bearer checks complete by pick # - I filled in the last 3 holes, one with a top pop I sent in myself. The only thing I think that is arguably missing here is the P-46a sub-type. 
    3rd dollar banknotes complete by pick# - I have hardly ever seen a 73b, a 74b, or a 76b for sale and I refuse to pay $140 for a grade 15 just to say that I have that variety. 
    A whole bunch of raw gas coupons added and added to the set with a placeholder. 
     
    The set is complete by pick number from P-1 to P-12, from P-15 to P-23, and from P-32 to P-104. 
     
    For the first time since I expanded the set to include all the pick numbers there are fewer than 10 holes / gaps in the set.  
     
    6 of those holes are the Cargill Bearer checks – I’ll try my best down the road but… those are hard, and I just don’t feel bad about not having them! 
     
    2 of those gaps are notes that, as discussed in other entries, I’m not convinced deserve to even have their own pick numbers (P-28 and P-31). 
     
    And the last hole is a P-105, and… does anyone think I won’t get that as soon as I’m good and ready?  
     
    Looking at it, seeing that last gap in the middle of that huge, otherwise unbroken, 70+ note block… Feels nice! And I’m a little shocked and in awe. I would not have believed I’d get here in 2019, especially not in just 2.5 years. 
     
    At this point, my set has more notes and varieties and more images of notes in higher grade / better condition than many of the sites I used to learn about the collection and build mine.   I feel really good about reaching this point. REALLY REALLY Good. 
     
    But every time I hit a milestone like this though the “road ahead” becomes a steeper climb. Lol 
     
    Last night I also won a new P-46b unopposed. The P-46b in the set is one of the three notes I submitted myself earlier this year, but it disappointed with a 64EPQ. I was happy enough to get to have the 2nd dollar set, but, as I long suspected would be the case, not long after I just graded them myself the dealer I get so many of these notes from started popping up with more 2nd dollar bearer checks in high grade for cheap. They've been listing a lot of things in the range of P-39 to P-49 in 67 and 68 EPQ grades the last couple of weeks.
     
     
    I'm a bit salty over this because I got charged sales tax again this time when I haven't been charged sales tax the last couple of times I've bought from them. That brought the price up to $37.88. If I'd known I'd be hit with tax and pay almost $38 and not $35 I would have just bought the note from them through their site. It's $35 on their site and I won with a $30 bid, but I could have used their 10% discount code, not paid shipping and gotten out for $36.50... At the end of the day, it's $1.38. Not a big deal, but still mildly annoying. I'm getting tired of this on again / off again with this seller and eBay on Sales tax. Between that and the discount code on the site I'm increasingly convinced that I need to just give up on eBay wit this seller as long as that 10% code is on offer. However, as Mike has pointed out, a lot of their better stuff goes to eBay on auction, and doesn't show up on their site until much later, if it shows up at all. So waiting and hoping to see it on the website is a bit of a risk.
     

     
    It's a little funny to me that this post is focused on the two different 10,000 dollar notes in two of the series / sets that have them. There's a total of 5 $10,000 denominations, with P-14 (RARE!), P-17 (Dirty Common), and P-24 (RARE) rounding out the group.
  16. Revenant

    Another P-3 explodes at auction on eBay....

    By Revenant,


    1st Dollar Banknotes
    So after a 66 EPQ P-3b went for about $370 last week, today, a 67 EPQ went for a whopping $761 + $10 shipping. That... is... something.

     
    My P-3d and P-3e, which where only acknowledged as received 5 days ago, are already scheduled for grading... So PMG seems to really be on it and I'm hoping to get grades on those by the end of the month maybe.
    Even if they grade well, they're still a d and an e, so I won't have struck it rich. But at least I'll have some P-3s in my set.
    Wow.
  17. Revenant

    And... it's Blank on the back.

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Traveller's Checks
    I just thought I'd share this as a journal now that it's here and I can get higher res images:


    it was stamped as “PAID” on Oct 26 2004 (which happens to be just a week after my birthday, the year I turned 18). It was also marked as “Zimbank Waste” on “11-10-2004,” which, depending on whether you use US or UK conventions for dates, either October 11th or November 10th of 2004. Even though I’d normally expect them to use the UK convention, I’m tempted to say they used the American one and this refers to November 10th, because this stamp seems to have been placed after the Oct 26th stamp and it just doesn’t make much sense for me for this have been stamped as “Waste” before it was stamped as “PAID.” How something that was redeemed and stamped as waste to be discarded came to be in my collection and encapsulated in gem uncirc condition is a bit of a mystery to me but... it happened somehow! Somebody kept the trash I guess – possibly foreseeing that one day there’d be people like me with an interest in these things, and they kept trash paper and turned it into something that I later paid about US$40 for 16 years later. Life is funny sometimes that way, I guess. 
     
    Some of the things I find interesting here is some of what is NOT on it. The “Date” line is blank, so they didn’t bother to date it when it was issued to someone. The name of the person it was issued to was also left blank and, even though you were supposed to have to show ID to redeem these, there’s no redemption signature on the check. So there’s no record of when it was issued, or to who, or who it was that redeemed it – at least not on the check itself.  
     
    That information might have been retained at the Chisipite Sub-Branch in Harare, which is apparently where this check was stamped as waste, but I have a feeling the answer is “No.” My guess is, based on all the blanks, at least by this point in late 2004, they were just dealing with a ton of these increasingly worthless $1,000 checks and they were doing things “fast and loose” to process them all faster. By the time this thing was redeemed, $1,000 in Zimbabwe dollars was barely worth an American quarter or dime – so who would have even cared? It wouldn’t have even bought you bread probably. 
  18. Revenant

    A P-29, another step closer?

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Bearer Checks
    I was just messing around online and on eBay and I saw that one of my favorite dealers, who has been powering my set's (and my competition's set, and Mike's thrice cursed upstart of a set) towards completion, was listing a 67 EPQ grade copy of the P-29 note. It isn't competition for the 68 EPQ note that someone has in their set (not that I'm much competition for them grade / pointwise these days anyway ) but it's still a great, superb gem copy of the note that was available for sale at a reasonable price that I could just buy and didn't have to have a slap-fight over and lose at the last second to a sniper, so I took it. I got it for $33.80, which I think is solid for this one. 
    The P-28 and P-29 are two notes that you need for a complete pick set but I haven't been overly concerned about them - I've been okay with not having them in the set because they are almost identical to the P-30, which is far more common. The main differences are the serial number prefixes - the issue dates and redemption dates are the same. The P-28 has an earlier issuance date (Oct 2005) but prefixes starting with A like the P-30. But, with this one popping up, I wanted it, I can afford it, the price seemed reasonable, and so I just got it.


    Getting a P-29 takes a small bite out of the last major hole in GTS, which is dominated by the oh-so-hard to get and oh-so-expensive in any condition Cargill Bearer Checks. At one time I'd collapsed 28-30 and 31-32 into 2 slots instead of 5 just because they were such low priorities for the set. But... we're coming to the end. And the set can't truly be complete without them.
    I showed my wife an image / screencap of the whole set, just to show off how far it had come and I was super proud of it and the first thing she says is, "What are all those up there?" pointing to the big, gaping, hole.  

    My P-32 was the first note from this group and it was a 66 EPQ that I got for cheap. I may convince myself to bump that up one day to get a 68... but I'd rather add a P-31.
    Near to the end folks... About time for the RBZ to start pumping out another 25 note series!
     
  19. Revenant

    We're back! Woohoo!

    By Revenant,


    Venezuelan Bolivares Soberanos
    That was a long outage... but.... I have returned!
    Just in time too. I have a fun new note coming in a week or so to talk about... and more on the way me thinks!
  20. Revenant

    Upgrading my P-93 $5 note.

    By Revenant,


    4th Dollar Banknotes
    A couple of nights ago I was able to win a new TOP POP (for now) 67 EPQ P-93 note that can upgrade / replace my 64 EPQ that I got last year as a hole filler just to have the set complete. I spent about $36 all in and decided to this rather than go for a $51 68 EPQ 10 Billion note for now.
      
    At this point I don’t know if it will arrive here or if mail forwarding is going to send it to the new house by the time it’s all said and done. We have 15 days until we move. Given past experience with this seller I think it will arrive here within a few days of the move.
    I'm still debating how far I'll ultimately go and how much I'm ultimately willing to spend to upgrade the Zimbabwe set. The few 64s and 65s I have are definitely up for upgrades over time as 67/68 examples come up at reasonable prices, but I'm finding that most upgrades I'm seriously willing to consider have to be 3 point upgrades for $40 or less.
    This is only about the 3rd time I’ve done a direct upgrade of an existing note in the set - and one of those was bought by my wife without me knowing what it was. There have been 2 or three times though were I had a replacement and got a regular issue in a different grade that earned me more points - or vice-versa.
    I find anything for $50+ or anything that is only a 2 point upgrade a lot less appealing. I have almost no interest in 1-point upgrades, especially when I already have a 67. The cost / benefit just isn’t there for me as a 67 is already a superb gem Uncirc and a dang fine note for any collection.
    The ZIM93 is kind of the poster child for why I'm reluctant to buy anything below a 67 or 68 for the VEN104 - I actually think about this note every time I think about giving in and buying a VEN104 in a lower grade. At the time I bought that 64 EPQ I already knew that it really wasn't what I wanted - I already knew that I really wanted at least a 65 or preferably a 66, but it was the only graded example I'd ever seen and I wanted that set to be complete - and it only cost me about $20. Now I've seen at least 3 67 EPQs of that note come up for sale - and it has only been maybe 1-1.5 years. Not long in the grand scheme... but it did feel good to have the 4th dollar become one of my first 100% complete Zimbabwe sets.
    At least one higher grade, more recently purchased note that is likely to get upgraded at some point is my 66 EPQ P-100. It is a 66 EPQ that is in a set that is full of 67s and I don't see myself buying anything lower than a 68 EPQ for that set in the future, and I may ultimately bite the bullet and build out a full 68 EPQ set of those. 
    This P-93 also probably will not be the last upgrade to the 4th dollar set. I have a P-65 P-94 and P-95 that will probably both get bumped up to 67s or 68s down the line when the opportunity comes up and my P-92, which is a 66 EPQ, may get replaced with a 68 EPQ at some point because 68s of that note can sometimes be had for just $30-35, like this P-93 I just snagged.

  21. Revenant

    I guess there's something about GREEN.

    By Revenant,


    Note Storage
    So those boxes my wife got me come in 4 colors - black, blue, red and green. She got me black and blue. I ordered myself a red which is coming soon.
    However - it would seem that getting green just isn't so easy! Almost every seller I found is sold out of Green.
    The only seller I found with them was 1] changing more than anyone else was for the boxes (about $30 where most were charging $20-25 after shipping) and 2] charging a premium for Green (Red was about $29, blue was about $30 and green was a little over $31).
    So what's up with green?
    The first thing that springs to mind is that it is essentially PMG's chosen color and that might make it preferred by some but I also know PMG isn't the only grader. I see other companies used in my Facebook and Redit groups - I just personally have never gotten anything other than PMG for graded notes.
    It's also the main/ dominant color of money and "the greenback," if you are an American or collect US notes.
    I'd love to have all four colors represented on my shelf because I'm a weird, collecting freak - maybe just a couple of steps shy of being a hoarder - but I'm just not willing to pay 60% more for a different color. 🤷‍♂️
     
  22. Revenant
    So, I saw this thing come up and knew it was higher grade than what I had. I added it to my watch list and then never followed up or look at it.

    I got a notification last night from eBay that it was ending. It had no bids and a price of $27. The seller - who I buy from often - had a BIN option on it in another listing for $35. Just for fun I put in a $27 bid as the minutes were ticking down. I thought mine was a 66 EPQ but I didn't feel like I had time to check. I won it though!
    It turns out the one I had in my set was a 67 EPQ. So this was only a 1 point, minor, upgrade... but it's an upgrade. The set gets slightly better, slightly stronger... slightly closer to being acceptable to Mike's lofty standards.
    The seller's image is of an AB. I wouldn't mind if this turned into another case where what they actually send me is an AA, because what I have in my set already (the 67 EPQ) is also an AB. So that could be nice. I guess we'll see.
    The serial number on the note they image is interesting - Not fancy, but interesting. Somehow I doubt this is the one I'll get but... interesting to look at nonetheless.
     
    Edited to add:
    A few months ago I finally bit the bullet and bought a 66 EPQ VEN104a just to fill the whole in my set. The same seller with the above has a VEN104a in 67EPQ now, finally... If I'd realized this last night I might have grabbed this for combined shipping... as it is, now, I'm just going to sigh, roll my eyes, and be a bit annoyed. 
    I am still waiting to see if pre-graded Digital Bolivars will start showing up on eBay. If I can get them pre-graded in good grades for good prices I'll probably expand the set to include those and update the name from just "Strength and Sovereignty," but I don't really want to go through the hassle of grading these myself. I think the uniformity and sameness of these is hurting collector interest though and that might hurt dealer interest. I'm noticing that P-110 through P-113 don't seem to have done well, but P-114 did because it has a new back and, of course, it is the 1 Mil.
     
     

  23. Revenant

    Ordering some Cheques for future grading

    By Revenant,


    Zimbabwe Traveller's Checks
    So I've had my mental health break - I don't think I bought a single piece of Zimbabwean currency or pseudo currency in the three month period of December, January and February. I don't think I've gone anywhere near that long (or even 1 month) since Jan 2019.
    But I'm feeling a bit recharged and refreshed now having spent some time messing with other things. I think getting the plaque in the mail has helped stoke the fire and get me motivated to move forward with buying some things, using that grading credit and rounding out the set a bit / filling out the new holes I added in January. 
    I've known for a while what this purchase would be. I've wanted to load up on some of the traveller's cheques (P-15 to P-20) for a submission but I didn't want to pay $8-9 + $5 shipping per check for these. I had found a seller offering sets with all of them from 15 to 20 for $22 each and he had multiple sets. This auction didn't promise uncirc or a-unc checks like some other listing but the condition looked okay in the image and I'm not sure I need these stamped and canceled checks to grade 60+. I could be quite okay with examples that grade a little lower and have a bit more "character." That said, I did go ahead and ask if he'd be willing to look and give me the nicer examples he had.
    He responded saying he had some nicer / better condition sets he'd been holding back and, for $30/set, he'd give me the 2 nicest examples of each one that he has. I agreed and he said they'd ship out no later than today. I figure $16 + tax is fair for his time and attention (responding to me in the first place and not just grabbing from the top of the pile and calling it a day).
    I'm looking forward to getting these soon. I'm going to be looking at these for any fun dates. There was a graded P18 for sale a while back that had been stamped Oct 18th - painfully close to my birthday of Oct 19th. I pointed out to Shandy at the time that if that had been stamped the 19th I would have needed to get it - budget or no. Lol It would be so cool to have one that was canceled on 10/19 or another important / significant date to me - like the birthdays of my sons or my anniversary.
    I'll be scanning these but also trying to get them sent out to grade soon. I'm going to try to not let this linger for months like I have with and NGC submission - which will be going out by registered mail soon once I find a good box and get it over to the PO.
    I'm also again considering buying some lots of Zimbabwean coins and submitting some of those - maybe keeping the less promising ones in my binder of 2x2s - more on that soon I hope.
  24. Revenant
    I had told myself that I wasn’t going to work on descriptions for the new checks until they got here, but it has been a week since I got the good news on the grades and I’m getting twitchy waiting for them to get here. Maybe with tomorrow’s mail! I really want to see these in their new PMG holders in person!
    So I’m working on the descriptions! The P-40, P-45, and P-46b all have descriptions up now that are consistent with the approach I’ve used in the 2nd dollar set but how to deal with the traveller’s checks is a bit more of an open question and I’m weighing options…
    Since I only had 1 of these before this (A P-15) that one note had to do the heavy lifting in the signature set with information on that 6-check set and about that particular example.
    https://notes.www.collectors-society.com/registry/notes/UserNoteDetail.aspx?UserNoteID=20885&UserCollectionID=1264
    In the competitive set I split it with the series information in the set description and just the information / discussion on that note in the competitive description for that note. I’m going to continue that practice in the competitive set, but, in the signature set…
     
     
    I have three options I’m considering…
    1) Have the information on the set and that specific note in the description for each of the 6 notes I’ll have in there.
    2) Have the information on the set on the P-15 as now but don’t repeat it on the other 5 (P-16 to P-20).
    3) Have two P-15s in the signature set, use the first to discuss the set and have the 2nd with a feature about that note P-15 note and have the P-16 to P-20 just talk about those notes.
     
     
    On a different but related front, I’m considering using the certification numbers for some of the traveler’s checks I wasn’t going to use as place holders to put in some images of the 5 2014 bond coins I’ve sent in for grading. Speaking of which, my 13 Zimbabwe coin submission is official “received” at NGC today, but with current advertised wait times I don’t expect to see those grades or coins until mid to late August, when I’ll be in a new home hopefully! I'll probably have more to say on the coins in the NGC journal soon.
     
     
    Having gotten these grades back, the question occurs, "Would I do it again?" Or rather do more? Clearly, I'm thrilled that I did these two sets but do I think I'd be willing to hunt more examples of the P-16 and P-18 to chase a full gem uncirc set? ... and I don't know!
    If these first two sets had done a little less well - like if I had at least one pick # where the best I had was an AU 55 I think there'd be more of a case for trying again to finish an uncirc. set. But with an example of each in at least 63 EPQ it is harder to have confidence that grading more sets / notes would get me an improved set. I have seen unstamped, clean, examples only get a 63 EPQ.
    To make things a step worse, many of the people that sell these things have multiples of each and the pictures / scans always look good, but I think in many cases you’re seeing scans of some of the nicer ones and what you’re seeing might not be what you get. And on top of that many of the prices on these can be surprisingly steep. I got very lucky on these. I found a seller willing to sell a full 6 note set for $30 - $5 each - and pick the nicest examples to send me on top of it. I’ve seen many sellers that want $14-$40 per check or more… and that can get expensive in a hurry! If I knew a place where I could go and look at these in hand and have more confidence in what I was getting it might be easier, but, with buying these raw online, there’s just too much uncertainty.
    All in all, I did too well with these for the cost / benefit / risk equation to seem favorable for more. I don’t think that will change unless someone else comes up with a set that can challenge the one I have now. But, if an already graded P-16 or P-18 pop up in a better grade than what I have I may be a bidder!
    Of course, if they'd all come back as AU 55 or below with this batch of 12, I wouldn’t be sending anymore after that for a very different reason.
     
    Now that I know the fate on these I need to make myself get on sending in those two P-3 (a "d" and "e" I think) notes and some (probably 7-8) gas coupons. I need to put in a question to PMG though I think and see if those can all be on one invoice or two. I also have a mechanical error I need to send in with them - a P-23f posing as a P-23e. As good as it felt to see "100%" on that 2nd dollar set, I think it's going to feel even better to see 100% on a first dollar set. I don't think I would have ever imagined that when I started this in 2015. I never would have dreamed that I'd build that set to what it is now when I just picked up a few (11) notes for it in Dec 2015 and Jan 2016.
     
    That's all for now. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I has no notes yet.  
  25. Revenant

    Parent medicine? Alcohol and Retail Therapy?

    By Revenant,


    Hyperinflation Notes and Sets
    Today is a day that might lead to retail therapy, but I’m going to try to convince myself to not waste money on a knee-jerk purchase that I’m not going to want in the long term. The leading contender for bad ideas is a New P-114 Venezuela note - the new 1 Million Bolivar note. There's a 67 EPQ on sale for not much money but I know long term I'll want a 68EPQ and it won't cost that much more when one comes up. There is also a lot of strong cheap wine in the house... so there's that.  
    So, Sam spiked a 102 degree fever last night. Brought him home and put him to bed with Ben. He woke up this morning still running hot but still acting pretty happy. We figured he would just burn through whatever and be fine, he’d just probably have to stay home tomorrow.
    Ben, on the other hand… Ben woke up seeming mostly okay, was complaining of stomach pains by 7:30 and was puking by 8:00 AM… so off to Urgent care we go!
    Another $150 copay later… Both are still Covid-negative. Ben has a stomach virus. He’s looking at about 72 hours of misery while Shandy and I try to keep the rest of us from getting it.
    I don't think I've seen Ben decline so hard so fast since he got the flu 4 years ago.
    I'm hoping at least some of the $195 in copays I've made in the last 10 days will come back from BCBS later - at least hopefully the $75 for Sam.
    Sam, the one we thought didn’t really need to go in, the one we thought was fine, has an ear infection. He’s on anti-biotics now. He’d been acting fine but by the time we got him home he was starting to grab his ear and show signs of discomfort.
    So both kids are sick with unrelated illnesses, falling ill within 18 hours of each other. That’s parenthood for you! But since Sam does NOT have what Ben has, we need to try to keep Ben from getting Sam sick.
    I have a long list of things in my eBay watch list calling my name right now… So many temptations to go next to that P-114. I also just keep getting tempted to buy a P-109a and a P-104 in 65EPQ for $15 each but... That's a road to future regret, and I know it.
    I got the latest addition to my Venezuela set in yesterday and added it to my signature set. There’s currently no competitive slot for it. It’s a P-113.
    I got this from the mailbox last night, opened it up, opened my laptop, looked at my wife and said, "Sorry. I have to go full nerd now."

    I’m thinking that, unless they go all-in with the digital bolivar and don’t issue any more notes, they really need to change the design up after these. It is getting hard to get excited about these things with them all looking… oddly the same, shall we say.
    My wife likes to poke fun at my Zimbabwean P-1 type set - which is basically a signature collection - but other than color and numbers there may be even less difference between these Venezuela notes. At least the P-1 varieties have different signatures and (sometimes) different watermarks.
    Below we have P-108, P-109b, P-110a, P-110b, P-111a, P-111b, and P-113a.


    I was looking at my comments for the Zimbabwe 3rd dollar set recently and I think I might try to go back soon and bolster those with some more information on what’s shown in some of the images on the back of the notes. I'm thinking about building in references or links to other notes in the set (1st dollars) where I talk about the Zimbabwe Ruins in more detail, adding information on St. Mary's Cathedral and the Parliament Building....
    It’s a little funny to me in that I was very happy with where I’d gotten that signature set to heading into the awards last year - and it did win! - but now I’ve done such a massive expansion and revamp of it and I feel that it has really been kicked up a notch this year.