With the release of the new 20 yuan notes for the 2022 winter Olympics, I've been thinking about my Chinese collection more, and more specifically, the few missing notes in my modern set. The 2008 10 yuan note commemorating the 2008 summer Olympics (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/note248856.html) and its ludicrous prices has come to my attention again, and I'm wondering why these notes are so expensive. did they have a really low print? are they not available outside of China? what's the situation with them?
It’s a little sad. Yes, the number issued is very low. But the real reason is that most of these notes are exclusively owned by dealers. The Chinese dealers and their family members, friends, and acquaintances all line up outside the banks the day they issue these notes and gobble them all up. And of course, many are illegally sold under the table from the banks to the same dealers. They know they will demand absurd premiums from tourists and collectors, and this is how they make their livings. This particular note 5 years ago was selling for $150-$300. They are again using the current circumstances to elevate the prices.
I have seen similar phenomenon occur over hyperinflation notes (over the years) even though they several million notes are issued. Often they're not even circulated (but go directly to dealers). A few dealers scooped them up right from the central bank & then decided to charge around $20/note. In a few year's time (after youtube & Social Media hype) I saw these listed for $100 in TPG holders. I know nobody who owns one but they were a sudden "thing." I was stunned (that's a lot of money to put out for a note just because it has a lot of zeros). About the same time the 'Zero Euro' emerged. "Oh boy!" I thought since its not the first time somebody's made a quick buck off of hyperinflation notes (or other gimmicks).
This has also happened with the "Banknotes of the World" series. These souvenir presentation sets were released for about $35-$40 per mounted note. That's like $5 for the note and $30-$35 for the cardboard. They don't appeal to most collectors so prices quickly dropped.
