Revenant

46 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

You've probably already seen this but another $5 70 EPQ is for sale on eBay, starting price $955.55. I'm watching it, let's see if it sells. I'm suspecting bigtime buyers remorse .... I don't know what else it could be, we'll see.

I hadn't seen it but I'm not surprised. I wouldn't say a 70 is NBD. If you look at all the 100 Trillions graded back in the day and the relatively small number of 70s, a 70 is still relatively rare and hard to get. Even so, I'd rather have a 68 or a 67 for a much much lower price.

I think its probably buyers remorse and hoping to get out of it without losing their but... I don't see it working out for them. The long term (5 year) trend on these is down for everything except maybe the 100 Trillion and I do not expect these to be investments. When the newness wears off these will probably be pulling $15-20 for 66 and 67 EPQs, just like the 3rd and 4th dollars. I'm only buying the new series now because the prices are reasonable enough and I want them / I'm impatient.

1 hour ago, ddr70 said:

The Connellsville, PA note graded VF 20, so 5 points better than I thought.  No EPQ.  But it has RADAR SN on the labellebal  ;0  Since sending my notes off for grading I picked up my 3rd $10 VB n The Commercial NB of Columbus, OH (2605).  It doesn't have Radar on the label, but check out the bank sheet number!

Glad it worked out for ya!

1 hour ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

The second 70EPQ $2 sold for $399.99 (same price as the first $2 70) with one bid, significantly less than the $5. This has me scratching my head, I don't get why the $5 would sell for that much more. I feel like there is something going on with the sellers listings, seems like they are not showing up in searches very well.

Yep, I just can't bring myself to spend close to those amounts for a 70, at least for these notes. I have a hard time believing these (if a person was purchasing for an investment) will appreciate in value. If people are buying because they enjoy the notes and have that level of disposable income, then more power to them. Hope to see these in the registry some day.

Well, 1) The sellers should have never put these up for sale at the same time. That's immediately toxic for the selling price of something that depends on supposed rarity. 2) I've long thought that the $5 probably had two people put in sniper bids higher than they were expecting thinking there wouldn't be another bid that high. I would not be surprised if there was some buyers remorse there.

Values on all the 2nd and 3rd dollars are way down in the last 5 years. Only the 10,000 and the 20, 50 and 100 Trillion have held up in value. Even there, it's mostly the 100 Trillion.

I expect these will not hold up well overall once the newness fades. That's why I'm not paying much more than they'd cost to grade.

I have 1 69 EPQ in my 3rd dollar set. Its the highest grade I have.

I agree that a 70 set would be killer. It might be achievable on a short set like that. Someone might be working on it, but I don't think I could ever pay that and feel good about it short of winning the Mega millions.

5 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

I've seen that one, I did a double take, said "No WAY", and moved on. The gold foil took me a minute before I came to my senses. I would consider picking up one of each, if the price was right, to add to my collection. For sure. I forgot about those, thanks for posting them.

The Zimbabwe Million, Billion and Trillion dollars notes are some of my favorites to pick up in circulated condition. If I find a 10 pack of any of them, for a buck a piece, I'll pick them up and hand them out (Halloween maybe) or leave one with the tip.

If you're willing to get them shipped over from China (doesn't seem terribly risky on something you know is fake) you can get the gold ones on eBay for something like $0.40 each. You could probably get them in time for Halloween - assuming there is a Halloween this year.

Seems like it could be fun. They honestly make me think of the golden tickets from Willy Wonka.

Those are interesting and neat - good to have, even if they aren't part of the signature set. A collectable that is very adjacent to your Ukraine collection.

Not really the same but this makes me think of some novelty notes that some enterprising person in China made that continue the silliness of the Zimbabwe denominations with "quadrillion," and "quintillion." Some have "Octillion" and "Vigintillion" - A vigintillion is a 1 followed by 120 zeros. These amuse me but they're dangerous because some people don't realize that Zimbabwe stopped at 100 Trillion and they don't know that these are not "real."

They also make gold and silver "foil" versions of the 100 Trillion note, which I honestly find to be some of the most deeply ironic things ever. One of these days I think I'll have to buy one of these just for the pure novelty of it - and they're sold in groups of 10 for $10. These also get a little difficult with the uninformed, who don't get what these really are. I've actually had to explain to people on reddit that "the blue one" is real and the "gold one" is a (nasty) joke.

5 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

It sounds like they are loosening the reigns in regards to what they will and will not grade. It has a Pick # and is in the registry so I figure the odds are good. 

Given what I've seen of late, if it has a pick # I think you're probably good.

These one-use, cancelled items are interesting but they tend to not be a pretty as the notes.

Maybe one of these years I'll have a full graded set of Zimbabwe's traveller's checks. I think that would be something.

In some ways I'm happy that this new series of Zimbabwe notes is probably not going to explode into another 27 note run like the 3rd dollars.

I don't know if I can be any help on which is best but that's an interesting bit of history to be sure.

Ultimately you'll have to get it from PMG but given that they are government issues I wouldn't be surprised if PMG would encapsulate them.

15 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

That's where it started for me, where I first read about the new ZWD and how the government/local officials and companies were already undermining it or knew from the get go that it would not last.

Excellent write up  that really puts a bow on it to date. Can't wait to see the rest, even though we all know how this chapter is going to end. I can't look away.

Thanks! I'm glad you like it.

I have write-ups chronicling a lot of this in a way that splits it (the story from 2016 to 2020) between the $2 bond, the $5 bond, the $2, the $5 and the $10. That part is going to be part of the $10 note description. I'm unofficially holding the description for the $20 note open (once I have one to enter) and I expect that section / write-up to discuss the death of the new 2019 ZWD - what a way to spit on the 1st dollars of 1980 to re-use that currency code. SMH. I don't expect any more notes in this series at this point. If they release a $50 / $100 and try to keep this going they're just sticking their heads up their butts and denying the truth. "It's dead, Jim."

On 8/31/2020 at 6:30 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I read a short article in World Coin News and it looks like the life expectancy of the new ZWD will be shorter than predicted.

I can't make journals right now and I'm getting errors when I try to update my note descriptions, but I'm working on a major re-work / update to my New ZWD set to factor in current events (and make note of the Sep 2019 death of Mugabe). I have the following written up in my master Word file and i thought I'd share:

2 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Hmm, I would think they would if someone sent them in. They were issued by the RBZ so that should make them legit enough and I've seen similar items graded from other countries. PMG likes to make money so I'm sure they'd stick them in a holder if someone felt the need to get one graded. 

I imagine you're probably right, and I may do just that one of these days, but I've had my hands full enough.

2 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Side note: I read a short article in World Coin News and it looks like the life expectancy of the new ZWD will be shorter than predicted. It seems that the government is currently misstepping its way into another economic collapse. Let's see, they shut down the Stock Exchange last month, are paying civil servants in foreign currencies effectively re-dollarizing the economy, banning all mobile wallets/transactions and all the while reassuring people that the ZWD is still legal tender and to exchange all other foreign currency for it (after you just paid me with foreign currency, uhmm NO.). Looks like we can stick a fork in the new ZWD, at least at these denominations. I think they just go back to the USD or ZAR.

I don't really know anyone but the RBZ that really expected the new ZWD to be anything other than basically DOA, especially since it was essentially their 3rd "currency" / "quasi-currency" in the last 4 years and the 2nd in the year 2019 - it was announced only about 6 months after they announced that the Bond Notes - which were supposed to be 1:1 pegged with US dollars - were "converted" to the "RTGS dollar," which was a "ZWL" currency code.

Fiat money is always going to be faith based - which is fine, as long as people trust the government. But there was zero trust / faith in the RBZ (for good reason) and that is just going to get worse every time they fall on their face like this. This new ZWL/ZWD/series of currencies was a goner the minute they abandoned the peg to the US dollar - and trying to re-peg to the USD at a devalued rate wasn't going to do it. The ship had sailed at that point.

There only hope is going to be to peg to something more "real" that they don't control in order to impose the promise of discipline and restraint. Or that was their only hope with the Bond Notes. Now that they've shown how casually they're willing to de-peg I don't even know that that will save them now.

I may have to change my set from "Zimbabwe Dollars Reborn" to 'The "Z" is for "Zombie."'

On 8/29/2020 at 11:34 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

This has me wondering.... Do you think PMG will start grading the Cargill Checks and the gas coupons?

I assuming that PMG was not grading these at some point as well, similar to the Traveller's Cheques, since there are no registry sets listed.

I  think they have graded the Cargill checks before and, if they are grading the Traveller's checks again, they'll probably grade those now. The gas coupons??? I don't know... I don't know if they were ever grading thsoe.

On 8/22/2020 at 9:56 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I'll be interested to see the back of it when you post it, more often than not the back will be endorsed with signatures, addresses, phone numbers, typing from when it was ran through the register and/or stamped, but the other Cheque cashed at this branch (that I've seen) had no other markings on the reverse, which would make it slightly out of the norm in general for this series.

Great note, I like it. 

It arrived in the mail today. I have to follow my own rules and not open it for three days but I'm getting closer to having it anyway!

11 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Nice to see that P15 ended up with you and not at a bad price either (I think).

Yup. I'll be honest in that I'd gotten my hopes up that I could walk away with it for $25 + tax + shipping when it went into the final minute with no other bids and I was a bit disappointed when it spiked from $24.89 to $37.77, but I wanted it and I was prepared to go higher if that had been needed to get it. It just adds something to the overall set I've built that I've wanted for a while. This is only the 2nd one of these checks that I've noticed come up for sale that was PMG graded. The other one was a P-18 graded as a 63 that came up at a time when I just couldn't justify bidding on it.

11 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

I was board so I did a little research into the stamps on your P15, and it looks like it was endorsed and paid out at the Chisipite Branch located at 2 Hind House in a Shopping Center on the north side of Harare. The endorsement stamp is a little unique from stamps on other Travellers Cheques in that it has those two arches in the center and the ink mark above from the stamp pad, possibly unique to the person who stamped it. I've been looking around and have only seen one other Cheque (another P15) with that stamp used out of a few hundred I viewed. Kind of fun to think about if the stamp used and branch where it was cashed are rare, not that it really means anything or increases value.

Well, at this point you've definitely looked into this aspect of it and these notes than I have. I may steal some of this for later.  I understand the appeal that some have of getting the ones that weren't redeemed / canceled and which are very clean looking as a result, but I also think that the stamps and such add a lot to the story and the context of what it is, as you just pointed out.

I'll be looking forward to having it in hand myself, checking out the stamps more and looking at the back. Sadly, knowing this seller, it'll be close to two weeks before I have it and it'll have to sit unopened for 3 days in our quarantine pile - I have to follow the rule too if I want the 4 year old to respect it! The new $10 note hit the mailbox today, a little early, so that can come out on Tuesday. That'll help tide me over.

14 hours ago, Sheik Sheck said:

Being number 1 with 160 points is an achievement, no doubt about it. Don't worry about the wife, mine quit speaking to me years ago. She just grunts and snorts when she hands over the cardboard envelope that we both know what the contents are (once she has doused it in disinfectant). Funny how she checks the serial numbers of all her notes and gets excited when she spots a star note. She wasn't too thrilled when I created a note from her home state.  

Lol. Hmmm... I think you might be stirring up trouble with that photoshopping.

It'll actually be 201 points and about 84% complete once the $10 comes in the mail. With more of the $20 notes hitting listings this will probably be the next set / category that I get to 100% complete just because getting the last notes I need for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd dollars has been proving challenging lately.

53 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Haha, awesome! 

Glad they included the Bond Notes, that made the most sense to me as well.

Yeah. It would have been a bit sad to have those permanently orphaned.

54 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Enjoy the #1 set while it lasts. JK. When I do enter my set, in the descriptions I'm just going to write **See the Pittman Family Zimbabwe Dollars Reborn set for descriptions.**, I'll never be able to top them.

I was pretty thrilled when you got that note though. It meant that at least one other person would want and use the category. It's nice when you aren't asking for a new set just so you can sit there unopposed. Not much of an achievement to be #1 if no one else is even in the running. My Zimbabwe set has close to 10 competitive categories now though and it gets interesting trying to balance and split efforts and attention across all of them.

Glad you like the job I've done. I wouldn't ever dream of trying to come close to what you're doing in Ukrainian notes. I think the words "never again," are going to be used when this is mostly done. I don't think I'm ever going to pick a fight with another elephant like this.

4 minutes ago, ddr70 said:

Now I want a descending pairs SN :-)  

Yeah... That is cool.

14 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Might be the time to sell duplicates. 

Ha! I wish I had duplicates! I wish I had the budget for a lot of duplicates! This set is so dang huge, if I was sinking a lot of money into duplicates and upgrades right now I'd be in trouble with the misses.

One of the few things I'd count as an absolute duplicate is a P-98 that I wouldn't want to give up because my two P-98s are sequential serial numbers.

13 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

There was a seller out of Canada that had a few of the $10 notes for sale, some at 67 and at least one at 68. It was a little weird, one of those auctions that just pops up out of nowhere and only lasts 2 days, anyway they had respectable starting bids of under $35 (shipping was cheap as well) if I remember correctly and no one bid on them.  I want to say there was a $20 note from the same seller but I can't remember for sure. Almost seems like the $10 and $20 notes are not getting the same attention as the $2 and $5. The $2 and $5 seem to be holding strong at around $40 - $50 for examples in 68.

Yeah... I'm not sure what's up with that. I think there might just be slightly less awareness of the $10 and the $20 and I think people might just not be in a rush on those since they're so new. Hard to say.

5 months ago the first dollar notes could go up for auction at these prices in auctions and no one would bid or I'd just win them unopposed. Lately a few people have emerged that are showing some strong, consistent interest in the 1st dollar notes and there are more and more battles over some of them it seems. I also just absolutely got thumped on a P-77 I wanted to complete my "Millions" set in the 3rd dollars series.

I don't know what's triggered it but in the last 3 months it just seems like I've picked up a lot of competition.

I miss the days when I picked up a P-5 variety in 67 EPQ (top pop) for $7.50 because no one fought me for it.

Edited to Add: That Canadian Seller did have a $20 note... but it was only a 66 EPQ. I have plenty of 66 EPQs in my set - especially in the 2nd and 3rd dollars - and I think it's a solid grade, but I've been trying to get 67s where I can lately and, with that note being so new, I just feel like I'd rather wait than pay what felt like a premium price for a 66 EPQ.

Yeah... I went for that 67 EPQ on the 10 in part because I was expecting sharper competition on that 68 EPQ. You got away with that for cheaper than my 67. I had thought about bidding on that 68 when I saw it going so low but I decided against it since there are some notes ending today that I wanted to go for instead.

I was hoping to go for a P-3 $10 note ending today but the bidding has gotten too steep. I think I'll wait for now.

4 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Nice, I was watching that one as well. 

I'd like to get the new series in 68's, I'm keeping my eyes on few Zimbabwe auctions. Only problem is there a several Ukrainian notes I'm going to be bidding on and I'm just going to have to wait before bidding on any Zimbabwe new series notes.

Yeah... and I think there is a 68 for that one coming up in a day or so. I thought about going for that 68, but my other 2 so far are 67s, I'm pretty happy with 67s but I am trying to mostly make 67s happen just so they'll be "Superb Gem." If they ever make a competitive set for these you may force me to upgrade to 68 EPQ just because I don't want to take the #2 spot in Zimbabwe . Joking... Maybe...  One of these days I'm  probably going to be forced do go back and upgrade some of my 4th dollar notes and some of my higher denom 3rd dollars just to clear out some 65 EPQ notes and one 64 EPQ that are dragging the rest down.

38 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Are you *spooning* me, $1,026 unbelievable!

It'll be hilarious when a second one gets posted in a few days.

 

Yeah.... That shocked me. I audibly gasped and my wife asked what was wrong. 😆

Again, I'm good with my 67 EPQ. I actually won the auction for that 67 EPQ $10 note at 4:30 AM - bidding unopposed for $28.99 (about $37 all in after shipping and taxes).

1 hour ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

Watching an auction like this always makes me wonder about bidding strategy. Is bidding 20+ times on an item going to net you a lower hammer price on an item like this, I tend to think no. One person seems bound and determined to win this note, I think one snipe bid at the end would have served them better. Makes me wonder if they are bidding beyond there means, hopefully not.

If I was a real jerk, I would go back in there and make a minimal bid to drive that price up, just to see. Especially since the leader made another bid against themselves.

Nah, I'm having to much fun watching.

Yeah. I agree. I've gotten very careful lately about not bidding until the end. Part of this is the result of some activity with one seller that I think might have been shill bidding, but, in general, I feel no need to give people more time to run me up or think about increasing their bids. Much better to decide going in what the absolute maximum you could be happy paying is and put that in with a minute to go.

On 8/10/2020 at 12:06 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

 That $5 70EPQ has flown past $250, looks like a slam dunk to clear $300.

Any guesses as to where it may land $$$$

Well, 1.5 days left and it's up to $407. Wow.

27 minutes ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

 That $5 70EPQ has flown past $250, looks like a slam dunk to clear $300.

Any guesses as to where it may land $$$$

I have no idea. Interestingly, it seems like there's a resurgence in interest in these notes going on right now. I'm rather surprised by how aggressive the bidding has gotten on that note so quickly. The last few auctions I've been in for 1st dollar notes and a P-77 I lost have all been getting harder and getting more interest lately it feels like. I'm wondering if this new series is reviving interest or if something else is going on.

$300 seems like it'll be easy. I'm thinking we might see $400-500 at this rate. I guess we'll see. Again, I'm happy to have my 67 EPQ that I scored for about $35. There are some other things I'm going to go for while some others beat each other up over that.