Revenant

Yeah. We'll see. This year or another year, I just know, short of having a free $500 to use, I'd have a hard time sending these in at that price. I'm still not crazy-optimistic about another Zimbabwe-related PMG win though. I think the challenge falls to the revamped Venezuela set this year.

So, in asking a question about grouping invoices I found out that the gas coupons would need to go in under “economy special,” and not “modern,” like I’d been thinking and hoping. That ups the cost of grading these from $20 each to $40 each. And… I don’t think it’s worth that for now. It is / was just so much easier for me to justify $20/note for fun and the enjoyment of popping those into that signature set but it is so much harder to justify $40/note. I thought about it. I just can’t talk myself into that for now. Not a complaint about the fees or saying their services are not worth it but I don’t think its worth $40 / coupon to me to get those coupons graded. Unless they just graded REALLY well, I don’t think that’d be money I’d ever see again. Sometimes you notice that something hasn’t been done / graded before and you figure out why. I have them. I have examples of a lot of them in good condition, safe in top loaders. I may add more varieties, but I have what I have and raw / ungraded is good enough for me for now. Incidentally, since I only have about $140 left of my grading credit, and I really want to grade those 2 P-3 notes I bought raw, and something came up today that might also lead to me grading something else… I’d been thinking this morning, even before this news that I might need to scale back my planned / hoped for 7-8 in favor of something else. I won’t say what that is in case it doesn’t pan out but… yeah. I think this news killed the plan of grading the coupons for now. So I’m not saying the plan to grade the gas coupons is dead, but it most likely won’t be this year. This may oddly make me more interested in getting more of these and having a raw collection of them, just enjoying them and not worrying about it. Maybe, since they’re basically one-sided, I just composite some images together and use an extra note to plug in some images into the signature set and talk about them there anyway in a raw state. In other news, the checks arrived home today! I'm thrilled! 15 Notes and 3 top pops. I never would have dared hope for that could of an outcome with the Traveler's Checks. I just kept telling myself to try to be happy with 12 AU50s and AU55s and like 63s and 64s on the bearer checks, because I just didn't want to be disappointed.

Okay. Thanks for the information. I may have to put these on hold for a bit or scale back my plans short term because I'd been thinking these could go in under modern since they're 21st century issues but Economy Special ups the cost from $20 to $40 a note. If you decide not to grade them what would the response be / how would I be charged for looking at them or returning them?

I'm wanting to send in 2 Zimbabwean P-3 notes and 7-8 gas ration coupons. The ration coupons have the RBZ seal but no cat number. Would the coupons need to be on a separate invoice or could they all go on the same invoice?

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.

Now those are some words that don't normally go together, but I'm the same. That was the main driver in me just biting the bullet and getting those 5 soberano notes all at once for $124. Getting them together cut the shipping by $16 vs getting them one at a time - almost paid for a note!

Forgot to mention this but with combined shipping I only paid $51.98. $25.99 each for 68 EPQs.

These arrived today - a nice diversion while I wait a bit longer for my 15 newly-graded checks to arrive. I saw the P-91e ending with no bids. It upgrades my old P-91 that is 66 EPQ in my competitive set and they're different sub-types so they now coexist in my signature set. After I won that, since the seller combines shipping, I got this P-110b to go next to my P-110a in the sig set. I will likely try to have a 109a/b and 111a/b pair, just for fun. Getting 2-3 varieties is one thing but getting 8-10 varieties of each Fuertes note feels too intimating,

My grades came back for the 12 Traveler’s Cheques (2 sets of 6) and the 3 Hole-filling 2nd Dollar Bearer Cheques… and I am thrilled!!!! They did significantly better than I’d been allowing myself to hope for. I’d been thinking I’d be extremely happy if Fenntucky Mike was right, and they all came back with grades in the 61-63 range. I was mentally bracing to get a bunch in the AU50-55 range. Instead, I got the following. I’m not a note grader. I don’t at all know how to grade these and don’t claim to know. This was a shot in the dark for me with the best examples I could find at a reasonable-feeling price. This is one of the reasons I normally would not want to self-submit notes because I just don’t know what makes a promising bet and what could be a deal-breaker. So, I was just trying to cross my fingers and come in with what I hoped were reasonable expectations and this blew me away. 11 out of 12 got the EPQ designation and 9 out of 12 came back at 63 or above. A 66 EPQ a P-17 and a P-19 has me over the moon and a 65 EPQ for P-20, combined with the P-15 in 65 EPQ is enough to make a very strong set of these checks, with a 63 EPQ and 64 EPQ to round out the set. It is a tiny bit of a bummer that both P-15s came back at 64 EPQ, below the 65 EPQ on the one I have, so on paper that arguably was a waste, but those are still very solid grades that just barely missed the other and I wanted P-15s as my -001 on the invoices. I split the traveler’s checks into 2 invoices so I’d have two groups of -001 to -006 – maybe two competitive sets with all the same invoice number. Because all the higher grades didn’t land on one submission and because the P-15s didn’t beat the other, if I want to make the best competitive set I can I’d have to mix and match, which would defeat the purpose of paying the $10 to split the two invoices and submit the P-15s. I’ll decide later how I want to deal with that – go for style or go for the strongest possible group of 6. I’m thinking I may have to contact the seller and tell him how this turned out and thank him. I’m definitely feeling good at this point for paying the extra cash to have him pick and pull the nicest examples he had. On the bearer checks, the 64 EPQ on the P-46b is slightly disappointing, but the 67 EPQ top pop on the P-40 was great, and this gives me a complete graded set for the 2nd dollar, which is what I wanted out of that. I'll be in no rush to upgrade or try for an upgrade on that 64 I think. The "Stamp Cancelled" comment is interesting in that it IS in the comments on the back but it seems to be new. My older P-15 - which is still in a new gen holder - doesn't have it.

Grade watch continues!

Yeah... As I'm changing my search terms I'm seeing other, more reasonable options I may explore.

Based on how many of these have sold, I may be alone in this, but I have a hard time convincing myself to spend $20-25 for a fantasy note when the real notes are available for this much or less in raw form.

It'll probably happen in the fullness of time... I'm sure they've fooled many and these things have to be dirt cheap to produce. I spent about $18 getting myself 20 golds and 10 silvers. I see people selling sets of 1 silver and 1 gold for about $8-9 after shipping. In absolute terms that would have gotten me a pair for less total dollars but I liked the idea of getting a bunch on the cheap and giving away as jokes and to kids. But you know the people selling those pairs are probably cleaning up!

I mentioned a few months back that I got some of the gold foil replicas of the 100 Trillion note. I’d been thinking at that time that getting some of the silver foils could be fun but that got set aside for a while and I kinda forgot about it. I was on reddit recently and a guy told me that I’d inspired him to get two of the 100 Trillion notes, but, when he told me that he only spent a few dollars on it I told him what he’d probably really bought was a couple of the silver foil replicas - which was exactly what he’d done. He felt a bit silly for that but said he might then go ahead and try to get one of the real ones soon-ish. It’s interesting to inspire someone to start collecting something that you collect, and I wish him well with it, but this got me thinking about the silver foils again and about a month ago I ordered a group. These cost me a bit more than the gold ones - I paid $7 for 20 gold ones and paid about $11 for 10 silver ones… Go figure. The silver ones were more expensive than the golds. It’s an interesting group to look at - and not especially easy to image. I’ve long viewed the gold ones as harmless because they’re just obviously not right, but I’ve also long considered the silver ones more dangerous because they look a lot more like shiny versions of the real thing. If you’re not paying too close of attention you might see the silver / white and blue and think someone is selling you one of the genuine notes like that guy on reddit did. But his experience just confirmed for me that these are just a little more dangerous. Fortunately, I don’t see them as too much of a problem as they are still cheap, and I don’t see many people crying over wasting a couple of bucks. The silver foil ones came with this silly little CoA that I just want to laugh at. I’m not at all convinced that these are plated with genuine silver. I’m not at all convinced that the production of these was limited in any way, much less to 1000. There might have been 1000 in that run… with was probably run number 50 or something. The fact that the CoA is made of the same shiny material as the notes just makes it look so silly and over-the top.

Hi! I have a Venezuela P-91 (2014) that was graded before the catalogue was updated for this type. I was hoping you might be able to tell me what the correct sub-type is? I have a P-91e (2011) coming and I was hoping to be able to contrast the two in a signature set I'm building and wanted correct attribution of the type.. One of these days I may have to just get a bunch of these re-holdered to get rid of some "pick unlisted" notes. I guess we'll see how long it takes me for it to bother me enough for that.

As of this morning the third group has made it to Grading / QC. I'm a little hopeful that I might have answers by the end of the week.

Two of them are already in Grading / QC.

My notes are now Scheduled for Grading. I is excite. That is all. I love the "Emergency Issue" note on the label for many / most of these issues. They're such a bizarre product a bizarre moment in the history of a nation. I'm going to break these out into a special set of emergency issues (P-13 to P-32, or what I have of those) and the gas coupons (when and if I can get them graded), because I really want to put a spotlight on these things, apart from the larger whole of my "Gradually, Then Suddenly" set. https://notes.www.collectors-society.com/registry/notes/ViewPersonalCollection.aspx?UserCollectionID=1650&Tab=list Now that I'm mostly done with the writing work of building out the Venezuela set and i just need to buy notes as they become available at good prices, this set will probably be a major focus going into the 2nd half of the year. The gas ration coupons will probably be sent in for grading with a P-3d and P-3e once these clear QA/QC. I have quite a group of them now. I'm excited to get those coupons graded but I may be more excited to get a graded P-3 and close that last major gap in my 1st dollar set.

That would give you the satisfaction of having company in "coins and currency anonymous."

Mike, you make up most of the posts here. It's time to find a support group for you addiction.

My P-110 arrived last week and today brought my new P-109 and a new, higher grade P-102 (that is not a star note like the last one). With these, I have mostly rolled out / executed my plan for my Venezuela signature set. I still need to scan the two new notes. I still need P-104 and the new 2021 notes. I have a description written up for P-104 that will go up as soon as I have the notes. But that description focuses on the person and the animals / locals on the not and not on the historical narrative for the set / series so It doesn’t hurt my plan / narrative much to have that gap for now. I’ll use the descriptions for the 2021 notes to extend the historical narrative for the series, as I can. I’m still working on those. I really need to teach myself to pay more attention to watermarks with notes. I often overlook this aspect of note collecting because it has no analogue with coins. The Bolivar Fuertes notes have a watermark of the person on the note. Interestingly, the Soberanos don’t do this and just have a watermark of the new Portrait of Simon Bolivar that was used on P-108 through (now) P-114. I’m not sure what made them switch to using the same watermark on everything. Maybe it was to save money. Maybe it was just to get the notes out faster. Maybe it was to give them more flexibility on what denominations they printed with any given paper delivery. It’s interesting that there are three men that appear in / on both series. Two have different portraits used in the two different series, but the third uses the same portrait in both series in two very similarly colored notes. This makes the P-104 kind of obnoxious to shop for. You see that portrait as you scroll through, get excited and... it's a P-98! Ddr70’s comment that “Received” is the purgatory of grading is being proven out. I think the Traveler’s Cheque and Bearer Checks were received in the mail on 5/18 and opened and marked as received on 5/24 and they are still… “Received.” Turnaround time on world modern notes has been hanging 21-22 working days, and, if turnaround times really do start when the box hits the mailbox then I’m still hoping I can get the grades on those around 6/22…

For the Soberanos category (P-101 to date) https://notes.www.collectors-society.com/registry/notes/public_sets.aspx?CategoryID=1235&SetTypeID=10493 And the Full Venezuela set https://notes.www.collectors-society.com/registry/notes/public_sets.aspx?CategoryID=1235&SetTypeID=9550 Could we get new slots added for the new 2021 notes (P-112 to P-114)? Also, could the word Soberano be added to the 2018 slots in the P-101 to date set or removed from the 2019 slots for consistency? If you add the word to the 2018 slots, could we add "Fuertes" to the Bolivares Fuertes notes (P-88 to P-100) for the other sets / categories? For P-84 to P-99, could the date range be updated to 2016-2017? For P-100 could this be updated to 2017? P-94-99 were announced in late 2016 and P-100 was announced in late 2017. I don't know if there are any 2018-dated P-100s but I kinda doubt it given the release of the Soberanos (P-101 to P-108) in March 2018.

That would be my suggestion, but some of the information in the other sections could be incorporated into it. I also would cut out the references and save that for you. Maybe it isn't scholarly but I don't think most registry viewers will care.

Maybe that one in particular, but some of us enjoy grading / buying pregraded things you can have on eBay for $5-10.

You weren't brave enough to talk to him but you were brave enough to get close enough to take that? 🤣 Sorry. Old post but that just seemed funny.