Ways to collect Paper Money
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There are many ways of assembling a collection
of world banknotes without having to spend a
fortune on it.
You can begin collecting topical bank notes
such as, for example, those featuring famous
people, (scientists, writers, poets, politicians,
teachers etc.), animals, fishes, birds, sailing
ships, boats, cars, trains, planets, poetry,
buildings, dams, rivers, mountains, views of nature
and space, portraits of kings, queens, presidents,
dictators and many many other topics that are
already featured on banknotes of the world issued
all across the globe up to date.
Another way of assembling a meaningful collection is to use historical context as
your main criterion. For example you may decide to focus on collecting pre-WWII
notes only. Or start a collection of World War II era notes such as occupational,
prisoner-of-war, propaganda, emergency, local issues.
Also you may want to limit yourself to collecting paper money of the country you
live in or were born in. You may want to collect all banknotes of a certain continent,
or all notes of a certain group of countries, for example: Middle-East (covers Asia,
Africa and even Europe) or you may choose to collect banknotes of countries that
belong to NATO or countries of Pacific Ocean etc.
A most easiest way to start your collection is to buy a "beginner set" of world
banknotes. That way you start your own collection of world banknotes from a
scratch and at a low cost without spending many days and weeks collecting one
banknote at a time. See Banknote Sets.
A good way of finding out where your interest may lie is to examine a group of paper
notes (say at my online currency gallery or at a dealer's shop or at a paper money
show) and see what kind of banknotes attract you most. Are those mainly engraved
notes or notes of French influence or maybe notes with attractive serial numbers or
those with holograms on them? Maybe notes printed on plastic/mylar? Also you
definitely need some literature possibly a Catalogue of Modern World Paper Money
to start with. Please visit my bookstore to view selection of books that may help
you out in your hobby. Please note that to learn how to grade paper money is very
important, as important as to learn how to tie your shoelaces.
A very simple way to start your world banknote collection is to buy a bunch of cheap
notes, say at $1 each, one note from every different country of the world. Inspect
the notes, study the features, enframe your notes. When you are done with your
collection of possibly over 300 notes, then if your budget allows you may want to
start collecting notes that are a little bit more of value, a bit more beautiful as well
as costly. Let's say then you may want to try collecting notes that are worth between
$2 and $10 each and so on.
Did you notice that two banknotes which appear to be similar can have two different
dates or signatures on them? There are notes that look similar, but were printed by
different printers. Surely almost every note has a different serial number.
I will not write a large article here, therefore here are a few more ideas what to start
collecting in the world paper money collecting area. So, you may want to start or
advance your paper money collecting into collecting notes by:
- Topic (birds, nudes, sailing ships, famous people, views, militaria etc.)
- Time period (WWII, 20th century, only notes dated 1999 etc.)
- Country (your native or favourite country)
- City (city that issued the note, that applies to local issues)
- Continent (Africa, Europe, Antarctica etc.)
- Features on a note (holograms, security insertion strips, paper kind)
- Material used (paper, plastic, mylar, cloth etc.)
- Signatures (there are so many varieties)
- Serial numbers (111111 or 000001 or 123321 or specimens 000000 etc.)
- Name of Printer (company or government who printed the note)
- Influence zone (for example: France and (former) colonies)
- Size (collect only large size notes or notes that don't exceed certain size etc.)
- Condition/grade (collect only Uncirculated or only circulated notes etc.)
- Science (collect notes that feature biologists, astronomy, engineering etc.)
- Watermark (type of watermark or a picture on it)
- Type (Counterfeit/Bogus/Forgery notes; Specimen notes; Error or Trial notes....)
Please remember: the stricter your requirements for your collection are, the less
notes you will likely collect in your collection or the more your collection will cost
you, but the more value your collection will have. Also: if you just start collecting
paper money, don't look for investment, just buy the notes you like and enjoy them.
Later on when you become a more advanced collector you will learn how to buy up
notes that are worth not only because of their beauty, but also because of their
investment value.
Afterall, collecting banknotes may bring you happiness and good luck.
