Ideas for Collecting World Currency
This overview discusses and illustrates several ideas on how to collect World Currency.
By Country
World bank note collectors often start by acquiring one note from each country. Currently there are 195 bank note issuing countries. There are also "dead" countries that no longer exist to be collected, having been absorbed into another country or changing their names. Colonial countries, for instance, usually changed their names once they became independent. The Kingdom of Sardinia note shown here is a remainder, a printed note lacking the serial number and signature(s). Sardinia was formed in 1324 and was one of the Kingdoms absorbed to form Italy in 1861.
Often, a note from a country will inspire the collector to also collect note sets from this country. An example would be French notes (such as the 1964 Algerian note shown above). Bank notes produced for France and its former colonies have a "French Style", known for colorful pastel motifs of people and places.
Historical Bank Notes
Historical bank notes are intriguing, drawing not just collecting such notes, but researching the era the notes were produced and the background information. An example would be the “Ghoul Note” of Germany. A sore spot after WW II was the Alsace and Lorraine areas annexed to France from Germany. Several examples of a German depicted on 10,000 Marks notes exist. Whether on purpose or not, the portrait appears as a ghoul when held on its side, 90 degrees counterclockwise.
The ghoul is seen as the French, sucking the blood from Germany by robbing Germany of these land regions. Even the beret and "tunic" look French in appearance.
Famous People
Who’s image most appears on notes worldwide? By far, this would be Queen Elizabeth II, due to the vast number of former English colonies and members of the Commonwealth. The extremely long reign of the Queen adds both the number of notes with her image, but also the different type of images, mostly showing her change as she aged. One country, Canada, used a completely separate set of Queen’s images than the rest of the world. To mark Her Majesty the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012 Jersey released a £100 note. In order to issue the £100 note, Jersey had to amend the existing 1959 law which limits the maximum denomination of any currency note to £50.
Hyperinflation
Many collectors are drawn to notes with an amazing number of zeros added. Current contenders for this dubious honor include Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Older examples include Germany and Hungary. Forced to pay reparations for WW I, Germanys Mark was rendered nearly useless during the years between the two world wars. Hungary notes may appear as not a high of denomination, but the prefix added to the Pengő replaced many zeros from the actual number. The Hungarian 100 million b.‑pengő is the largest denomination banknote ever circulated. The b.‑pengő meant billion pengő. It was issued in 1946 and was 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 (100 Quintillion) Hungarian pengő with an exchange value of about US$0.20. Note the "B" denomination. Note also, they didn’t even bother to add serial numbers to the note!
Polymer Bank Notes
Polymer substrate banknotes. 76 of the current 195 countries issuing currency utilize polymer (biaxially oriented polypropylene) material for some or all of their current banknotes. A collection of these could start as early as a 1986 $10 Bicentennial Australian banknote. There are also "hybrid" banknotes that are partially banknote paper (actually paper and usually cotton fiber) and polymer. A great many security features only exist with polymer substrate notes. In general, far more security devices are utilized on world currency, whether paper or polymer, than U.S. paper money.
Counterfeit Notes
How about counterfeit notes? There are collectors of notes counterfeited by private individuals, but a more extensive and more popular collection theme is state sponsored bank notes. What are these? An example would be the banknotes the U.S. CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) had produced for the Cubans inserted into Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow the Communist Fidel Castro. These can be attributed by observing the series, either F69 or F70. The largest numbers of state sponsored fakes were produced during World War II, but there are dozens more produced by many countries, mostly during other conflicts.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
A collecting theme requiring more study is UNESCO World Heritage Sites depicted on banknotes. Several of these actually include this information below the vignette, but most do not. A good method to "discover" these is to go to the official UNESCO World Heritage Site at: [1]
By checking the banknotes and/or descriptions in a banknote source, one can match these up. Sometimes it’s like a trip where the trip itself is more enjoyable than the destination! Here’s an Egyptian note (their first!) with images of the "eye of Horus" (UNESCO site) on one side and “statue of Hatshepsut” and pyramids, both UNESCO sites on the other side.
IBNS Bank Note of the Year
Starting in 2004, the IBNS sponsors a yearly Bank Note of the Year (BNOY), with members nominating world bank notes based on artistic merit, imaginative design and/or new security features first issued that year. A collection of those nominated or the eventual winners makes a compelling and slowly growing collection. The number of notes nominated varies from a low of 9 to a high of 24. These are well documented at several sources. The IBNS site shows the notes, with recent years also having a video on YouTube. The site shows the catalog number, current exchange value, colors, front and back themes, watermark, other security features, printer, size, substrate material, and date introduced.
Other Collecting Themes
A small fraction of other collecting themes would include: birds, fish, reptiles, animals, specific animals (cats, monkeys, et al), specific vocation ( for instance medicine related - people, events, equipment), women (allegorical, known women, natives), sailing ships, battle ships, military (leaders, equipment, academy), trains/railroads, churches, mosques, overprinted notes, vertically oriented notes, propaganda notes, withdrawn because of error notes, and invasion/occupation notes.