Recently I wrote an article about the Mujand Trading Company which designs and produces fantasy banknotes. These are not just banknotes with a nice design but they are part of a whole story and mythology centering around the planet Blissdane where several 'countries' exist. Three sets have been issues so far and four more will be issued in the future.
I was so lucky to receive a package this week with the complete set of Series C in it from the Kuninganna Territory. It really showed why I like these particular sets of fantasy banknotes. This set of notes is completely different from the Series B I recently received in terms of design, paper and overall feel and look. The notes reminded me of the white notes the Bank of England issued in the first half of the 20th century. Considering the 'country' which issued these fantasy banknotes has a monarchal history, this may not be a coincidence: the notes honour the myhical queen Anya Qesh whose story you can read here.
If you're interested in buying this set or other sets, please visit the Mujand Trading Company website.
Two new banknotes this week from and both are from Suriname: the 500 gulden (P150) and 5,000 gulden (P152). This series issued in 2000 is one of my favourite series to collect and features birds and flowers from Suriname. The only two notes missing from my collection are the 10,000 and the 25,000 gulden. I'm afraid the latter is a little above my budget but I have high hopes for the 10,000 gulden note.
Fantasy banknotes, the opinions on them vary but it's a fact that there are a lot of them. The most well known are from Antarctica and the Disney Dollars. I know a lot of collectors don't want them because they weren't issued by an official bank and are not 'real money' but I like them a lot to be honest. To come up with a good design for a banknote is a lot harder than most people think. Let alone actually producing them.
This week I received a wonderful gift from the Mujand Trading Company. Not only have they printed fantasy banknotes, they have even designed several series belonging to different 'countries' on the planet Blissdane Naïve in the Mujand System. There is a whole mythology behind the notes, the different countries and even time periods. I received a gift package containing the B-series of banknotes from the Territory of West Junee.
If you're interested in fantasy banknotes or collect them, go check them out!
Remember kids, when you know of a friend, a colleague or a family member going on vacation to an exotic country, always ask to bring some money back as a souvenir. I did, and look what it got me: three new Moroccan banknotes, including two from the new series!
Last weekend was the bi-annual Papermoney Fair Maastricht in the lovely town of Valkenburg aan den Geul. This year all tables were sold out so it was packed with dealers, buyers and tons of great banknotes. What I really liked this year in comparison with previous years was the amount of 'cheap' banknotes offered. Everywhere were crates filled with banknotes sold for a few euro. I'm sure lots of collectors skip these offers but it meant that the fair was useful for every type of collector, including the beginners or people with limited funds.
I also managed to get some nice new notes and expand the amount of countries in my collection. The purchase list:
- Armenia, 100 dram, P42
- Aruba, 10 florin, P16b
- Bermuda, 2 dollar, P57a
- Denmark, 10 kroner, P44ag
- El Salvador, 1 colon, P125a
- Ghana, 10,000 cedis, P35a
- Macedonia, 10 denari, P14c
- Netherlands, 10 gulden, P85
- Norway, 10 kroner, P36c
- Somaliland, 1000 shillings, P20
- Somaliland, 5000 shillings, P21
- Timor, 100 escudos, P28a
Three new banknotes for my collection this week, including one new country! A colleague was so generous to give a 20 francs from 1997 (P151i) to me with one of my favourite composers on it: Claude Debussy. Another new note is the 500,000 lira (P212) from Turkey. This is of course a note before decimalization (unfortunately).
The real treasure this week is the 204th country I've added to my collection: a 1 gulden note (P35a) from Curacao. I had been looking for a Curacao note for some time and I finally found one on eBay which was sold for a reasonable price.
We got him! This week I received the beautiful Russian 100 ruble note issued in commemoration of the Olympic Winter Games in Sotchi. The note looks great once you have it in your hand and I was surprised how nice the transparant window turned out.
You can still vote for this note as IBNS Banknote of the Year if you're a member of the IBNS by the way.
Another new note I received yesterday was the new 2 dollar note from the island of Barbados. The new series was issued in June 2013 and you can read the article I wrote about the beautiful new series here.
Barbados is the 203rd country I've added to my collection.
Two Dutch banknotes this week, one new and one better version than I already had. To start with the latter: I got the UNC version of the 5 gulden note from 1973 (P95a). I already had a VF note I saved from when these notes were replaced with a coin in 1988 but the UNC is of course much nicer.
The second new note is a 10 gulden note from the 1933 series (P49) with a picture of an old grey man ("Grijsaard" in Dutch) originally painted by Rembrandt van Rijn. This was the first note where the text stating that the Central Bank promises to pay the bearer on demand was left out.
A beautiful new banknote in my collection this week and one which has been on my wishlist for a long time. Last week I had the chance to get one for a very reasonable amount of money so I finally could add this commemorative note from Bhutan. It was issued to commemorate the royal wedding of the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, to Jetsun Pema in 2011. The 100 ngultrum note (P35) was issued in 2011 in a special folder.
I am quite the sucker for beautiful banknotes and when it comes to these the former Dutch colony of Suriname has some great notes to add to my collection. In particular the series with the birds and flowers from 2000 is in my opinion one of the greatest looking banknote series ever. I already had a few of them and this week I could add the 1000 gulden note (P151). I'm still looking for the 500, 5000, 10,000 and 25,000 gulden to add to my collection but these are a little more expensive.
Four new banknotes this week, including a set with EVERY banknote ever issued by a single country! How is that possible? They are of course from the country of Liechtenstein. The small alpine country between Switzerland and Austria has only issued three banknotes in its existence: a 10, 20 and 50 heller note in 1920. These notes (P1-3) are very small but show a nice drawing on the back of castles and town sites in Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is also the 202nd country added to my collection!
The fourth new banknote is a nostalgic one because I used to pay with it. It's the 25 gulden from The Netherlands. This last issue of the 25 gulden from 1989 (P100) is a fine example of the beauty and design of the dutch banknotes in the past, this one designed by Jaap Drupsteen. Yes, I do miss these notes so I'm glad I could add one to my collection this week.
I'm not really a collector of Euro notes. I use those notes to buy other banknotes and also because I think they're boring. But this week I got a gift: a 20 euro note from Cyprus. Euro banknotes from Cyprus are pretty rare so why not? I'll add it to my collection.
Just before the end of the year I received a new addition to my collection: a 1 dollar Silver Certificate from the United States (series 1935-E, P416D2e).
Silver Certificates are a type of representative money printed from 1878 to 1964 in the United States as part of its circulation of paper currency. They were produced in response to silver agitation by citizens who were angered by the Fourth Coinage Act, which had effectively placed the United States on a gold standard. The certificates were initially redeemable in the same face value of silver dollar coins, and later in raw silver bullion. Since 1968 they have been redeemable only in Federal Reserve Notes and are thus obsolete, but are still valid legal tender.
Normally I'm not much of a collector of US notes. Mainly because I think they have boring designs and also because a lot of the collectors of US notes I know are obsessed with special serial numbers. For me that's not the collecting of banknotes but of numbers on an arbitrary item. This Silver Certificate however has an interesting numismatic story so I welcome it in my collection.
Joyous tidings dear readers for I, Steven Bron, have added the 200th country to my collection. And the 201st! I have also managed to get one of the best looking banknotes issued this year: the new Canadian 5 dollar. So a very good update! Four new notes have been added, starting with the two newcomers:
After last weeks new addition of Tannu Tuva I received a banknote from another new country this week and again it's a pretty unknown note issuing 'country' to most people: Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.
Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon's official name is: collectivité territoriale de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. It's a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France, situated in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean near Canada. It is the only remnant of the former colonial empire of New France that remains under French control. The islands are situated at the entrance of Fortune Bay, which extends into the southern coast of Newfoundland, near the Grand Banks.
As you can see in the scan the note is damaged and normally I wouldn't buy a note like that. The thing is though: banknotes from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon are pretty rare and therefore pretty expensive. This note still looks very decent (the non-damaged parts are almost UNC) and I could get this for a bargain. So I present you: the 20 francs (P24) from country number 199!
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