Most beautiful banknote

Sorry if it already been asked out, but inspired by this thread: https://en.numista.com/forum/topic124401.html about the most beautiful coin series/historic period:

My question would be what's in your opinion the beautiful banknote? Single note, historical period, series etc.?

My contenter will be the Costa Rican 5 Colones, for its bright colours and detailed reverse. I bought it for myself the other day, when looking thruge some individual buy banknotes. I just had to buy it 😝

(https://en.numista.com/catalogue/note204555.html)

I also really like the Romanian commemorative 2000 Lei for its design and colours.

N#201590

What's other peoples favourit? Regardless of having it in their collection or not 😁

N#203616 

 I got a few coins and banknotes about ten years ago, and that was amongst them. 

Bumping this topic b/c its a good one! 

My contenter will be the Costa Rican 5 Colones, for its bright colours and detailed reverse. I bought it for myself the other day, when looking thruge some individual buy banknotes. I just had to buy it 😝

(https://en.numista.com/catalogue/note204555.html)

 

I also really like the Romanian commemorative 2000 Lei for its design and colours.

N#201590

I have the 5 Colones from Costa Rica but not the 1999 Romanian 2000 polymer Lei note. For polymer, I would throw my hat at this Fiji $5.00

Another favourite polymer is the $50 from Trinidad:

The colour scheme on these 2 notes is dazzling when seeing it in person.

For paper, I like all the older Yugoslavian, French & most European “horse blankets” from the 1920's. I had the attractive 1908 100 Marks from Germany (that Zac posted) but gave it away. These noes are really cool as most don't feature one person but more allegorical figures of beauty or mural like designs.

A modern favourite (as it doesn't feature any particular person) is this colourful $50 from Solomon Islands (the 1986 is a large format):

All notes have great colours.

Love them

This would be mine - Clydesdale Bank 100 pounds. the design is simple, not over crowded with security features.

Like looking out through my window or a painting hanging on the wall

My another favorite

The 500-euro note is my favourite….

New Zealand's old notes are always up there with me.

Totally agree

Some better pictures

New Zealand 10/- shillings 1934 (These notes are very scarce and thus high grade examples are very expensive). This VG example alone is worth $250 - $500. These type ones all had the same back design. Issued as 10/-, £1, £5 and £50 (Insanely rare worth 5 figures each).

Five Pounds, 1940 - 1967 type 2 - Fleming, this note is a bit more common, unlike the first series, all had different obverses. These ones were hoarded in 1967.

And a decimal note - a very rare $100 note from 1980 - 81

$100 Note 1980 - 1982, these are very rare and only 4 million issued between 1980 and 1991, 1 million were this Hardie Signature (To 1984, but $100 issued only in 1980/81) and 3 million with later signatures.

This note did not circulate much (That was the $20 and down).

This one is UNC and very beautiful, coveted now and then as well.

Design shows near extinct Takahe bird and mountain daisy.

Totally agree

+1

I've always had a big soft spot for New Zealand's early issues. I really like the 1934 series which I hardly ever see offered & are always so dear in mid-grade.  Awesome pick-ups Moneytane (congrats!)

Here's 3 replacements that met my budget:

and the later $5.00:

and this $10 from the 90's (before polymer):

Good notes, my only replacement is this Wilks $10 from the early 1970s.

Even this is very scarce, but 98A serials are truly rare.

I was lucky to get a fine set of notes from a friend who loves gold.

Your notes are Series C (Queen with mall hair), Series D (Queen with flat hair) and Series E (Famous NZers 1992 - 1999 paper).

Other NZ series are

A - Lefeaux notes (1934 - 40)

B - Later Predecimal series (1940 - 1967 - the fiver I showed is one)

C - Mall hair Queen (1967 - 1980)

D - Flat hair Queen (1980/81 - 1990/91) - $1 and $2 not made after 1990, rest into 1991

E - Famous NZer's paper (1992/93 - 1999/2000)  The $10 was only added in 1993 and replaced with polymer in 2000

F - Famous NZer's polymer (1999 - 2014)

G - Famous NZer's polymer - Bigger letters, redesign and Maori language added - 2015 now

What about this £10 note, these were huge beautiful notes with birds, carving, flourishes and agricultural scenes.

Similar to the lower values, everything is ramped up here, Cook scores an elaborate border and we have a ship prow jutting in (The enedeavour) and embellishment is the word.

This extravaganza was designed in 1940 and used through to 1967. This example was issued around 1957.

For my money, the Australian 20 pound note:

And for something a bit more recent, Djibouti 40 Francs:

That Australian £20 is a true masterpiece!

All early large sized ("horse blanket") notes are pretty jaw dropping with their classic designs IMO.  

The challenge is to find one in decent EPQ (unaltered) condition (otherwise you'll never get your money back).  Even when you go back that far you need to buy a note in decent shape unless they're 1 of 5 known (or something like that in rarity). 

What about this £10 note?

The 10 Pounder is nice but I'm sure hoards of the Fleming notes P-161c & especially d (with security strip) in UNC were discovered recently (about 5 years ago).  These (P-161d) were going for about $300 back then but I was gun shy (to pull the trigger) as I kept seeing them listed everywhere.   I definitely would prefer to buy one at auction & see what the market decides (or go for the Hannah or the scarce "Wilson" b version).

You are right 161d are much cheaper than than 161c. My note is a 161c as it has no thread and the prefix is the first issued meaning its right on 1956 or 1957.

In fact 90% of all the surviving notes in NZ will be the last type of Fleming with security thread (1965 onwards). Notes in this era were hardly ever dated (Some Hanna notes of 1947 - 54 were) and you have to guess its age through the serial numbers/letters.

Security strips were phased in on the denominations between 1961 and 1963 and the £50 never got one, as only 148,000 were printed in 1958.

By the mid to late 1960s, people more well off and inflation had kicked in making 10/- and £1 notes more common and cheap. Most £1 surviving are Flemings with serial numbers between 100,000,000 and 300,000,000. The last 50 million were printed from Oct 1966 to May 1967 alone.

The hoard was about 20,000 notes (28 million £10 were issued compared to 84 million £5 and over 300 million pounds).

All were d's (With security thread and issued after 1962)  That is why a VF D is worth around $300 and my one around $600. Even a VG d is $120 and $800 UNC. A c ranges up from $230 VG but $450 Fine to $2600 UNC.

The Aussie £20 shown by everycoinonline is worth much more, this a £50 and £100 were only issued in the 1910s and after 1923 only notes to £10 were issued, although the higher ones were used after 1923. These notes are all 4 to 5 and even 6 figures, much rarer than any NZ note other than pre 1934 Trading Bank ones.

Yes, with the Australian £20, only 421500 made and only 39 known examples survive. It's one of the rarest Australian pre-decimal, not counting the private bank issues. They were briefly circulated in the 1910's and then withdrawn, it was just too much money and not practical for every day use, but too small to be used by the banks and big corporations that used the £50, £100 & £1000 notes to transfer funds. Remembering that all accounting was on paper at this point.

There is a specimen of this note on display at the Hobart museum, along with a number of other interesting pieces. If you're ever in Hobart - drop in, it's free entry.

The hoard was about 20,000 notes (28 million £10 were issued compared to 84 million £5 and over 300 million pounds).

-Great info (thanks Moneytane!) Hoards like that can really drop the value of a note.

Canada's Birds Series (from the 1980-90's) is one of my favourite but not that popular amongst Canadians.  

The back of the $2.00 features the robin:

The back of the $5.00, features the kingfisher:

The back of the $10 features the osprey:

and the $20 features the loon:

I got my wires crossed!  They never found any hoards of £10 banknotes - there are no records of them. But they did find a pile of earlier £10 notes. These were Lefeaux and all ordered from the UK, but never placed into circulation. There was a quote given to print them, but they felt the cost was too high.

Also I found no evidence of any hoards of NZ £10 notes anywhere, but plenty of stories on UK £10 notes and also $10 millennium notes. So would like to see a link please serial_number8.

Looking at 10 years of coin and note catalogues, £10 notes have always been very expensive in any grade let alone high grade and even though the last type 161d is cheaper like all the later notes (1960s), they are far from cheap. Because of low numbers minted and a demand that all spoiled and mutilated banknotes were destroyed (Plus recalls before series 7 (All series 1 to 5) were officially recalled and destroyed, the numbers surviving in collections are quite low.

The Reserve bank has figures per denomination, but there is little change from year to year and they do not distinguish between series 1 and 2 for sterling and series 3 to 7 for modern notes. They also show no evidence of hoards with £10 or other denominations being added to the money supply

 Click to enlarge (Mods - I really DON'T like this new picture uploader thing).

What it shows is the face value of remaining notes in sterling has been static for years, these are in thousands of modern dollars, so £10 must be dividing 487,000 by 20 which gives us only 24,350 notes surviving.

Other figures include - 935,000 10/- notes - 793,000 - £1 etc.

I got my wires crossed!  They never found any hoards of £10 banknotes - there are no records of them. But they did find a pile of earlier £10 notes. …

Also I found no evidence of any hoards of NZ £10 notes anywhere, but plenty of stories on UK £10 notes and also $10 millennium notes. So would like to see a link please serial_number8.

I have no link- it was you who wrote the passage about 20,000 notes (which I quoted).  

But “hoards of notes” need not be documented (& seldom are publicized). This is especially true for the last signature combo (c or d) versions of a long running series.  It is also common practice for people to stash high denomination banknotes in their Safety Deposit Boxes (SDB). It happens all the time.  Canadians habitually stashed many $100 & $50 in their SDB's & many were in great UNC condition. That's why I sold my $100 & $50 notes 40 years ago to upgrade my lower denominations (replacements & tough prefixes).   These $100 & $50 denominations have a fraction issued when comparing to the $20 & lower denominations. But collectors don't care about the numbers issued!

 It's easy to assume that the # issued determines rarity (& book value).  It does not but you keep quoting bank # issued & inserting charts of this denomination & its # issued. The # of notes people keep (& in what condition) will play a much more important role (just like demand which must also be factored in for BV). If it was only the # issued, exonumia would be far more valuable than most banknotes! 

My assumption of P-161d hoards (or several stashes turned to dealers) is based on 15 years of auction observation (HA, Spinks, Stacks & Bowers, etc).  I've not only seen more £10 banknotes offered than £5 banknotes, I've also seen them in ungraded/graded 3 or 4 runs of them in sequential order (AU or UNC).  The majority have been P-161d (occasionally  the “c” version).  You can also check the PMG pop report for P-161d & you will find 150 (i think) have been certified & about ⅓ of those are in UNC. That's a high percentage of UNC notes (suggesting many socked these away). I have seen about 60% PMG & 40% PCGS but PCGS doesn't keep pop reports & pop reports also have to be taken with a grain of salt. Then there's countless that haven't been certified. Take the info or leave the info (when purchasing a P-161d) but I still maintain that $4- $500 (USD) is overpriced.  Whether you wish to attain one (or take my opinion) is up to you.

C'mon guys, let's have some rules here. You cannot claim that the banknotes of your own country are the most beautiful notes. That is biased .

If they are any, it has to come from a third party and not a citizen of that country. 😁
 

To me, I do not find any of the AUD designs beautiful, as I used them on a regular basis, and after a while you get so used to it.

@Serial_Number_8, I like the 1986 Bird Series notes, but one thing that put me off for the design is that large word CANADA on the back. Somehow, I find it that this word ruined the designs. This is just my opinion only. I have a 'full' set up to the $100 value. I believe I have all the notes bearing the signatures of John Crow-Gerald Bouey, Thiessen-Crow, Bonin-Thiessen, and Knight-David A Dodge. All my notes are in UNC Condition too. Of course I do not have the $1000 in my collection

To me, this is just stunning. How can you say this is not beautiful ???

@Moneytane, I like that NZ £1 with Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour design on it. South Africa issued one with a similar design of a ship(s) during the apartheid era too. I was thinking of getting one some years ago, but then forgot all about that.

Happy hunting!

Serial_Number_8

 

The 10 Pounder is nice but I'm sure hoards of the Fleming notes P-161c & especially d (with security strip) in UNC were discovered recently (about 5 years ago).  These (P-161d) were going for about $300 back then but I was gun shy (to pull the trigger) as I kept seeing them listed everywhere.   I definitely would prefer to buy one at auction & see what the market decides (or go for the Hannah or the scarce "Wilson" b version).

I was responding to that statement and dug through my library of articles to find reference and found nothing.

My guess is that they may have been unissued from the Treasury after decimalisation. The 10 pounds was a high face value note and there was not that much need for it. Many people earnt over that, but it was a cash economy and the sexist nuclear family pattern of that era, meant “wives” got a portion of money for housekeeping and paying the mortgage/bills etc and the man kept some for buying beer and betting on the horses. If you earnt 16 pounds a week, getting a 10 pound note would not be ideal, you would need fives and ones, and likely some coins for your 2.3 kids.

Uncriculated £10 notes will always be expensive here, compared to the rest of the world - they are scarce, but still in my opinion, they are affordable next to the truly rare £50.

I agree that our coins and notes are probably much cheaper overseas, where they are less collected. I even find that Australians are shocked at how cheap I have picked up their old coins and stamps for here, as compared to over there.

Beautiful foreign note for you.

Tongan 1 and 2 pa 'anga from the 90s, showing beautiful Island scenes

The 5 and 10 lean on the heritage, the Haa'monga Trilithion which is at least 800 years old

and the royal palace on the 10 pa 'anga note. The engraving on these is outstanding.

Ahkai - I agree, that $50 is outstanding. I think my Tongan notes would be even nicer with full colour printing as well.

As an oddity more than for its beauty I like this one

N#210681

UK (Northern Ireland) currency brought to you by Danske Bank :)

For being pretty: 

N#208375

N#222485

N#264921

N#299997

53th0s

As an oddity more than for its beauty I like this one

 

N#210681

 

 

UK (Northern Ireland) currency brought to you by Danske Bank :)

 

For being pretty: 

 

N#208375

N#222485

 

N#264921

N#299997

 

I have that Latvia 500 lat hybrid note 2008 and it was expensive. The Latvian dealer went to his local bank and hand picked a replacement prefix AZ note for me at the normal price. It was worth it.

I have that Latvia 500 lat hybrid note 2008 and it was expensive.

You have some amazing notes ahkai (no doubt about it) & if you haven't visited ahkai's site I encourage you to do so as its chalked full of interesting & beautiful banknotes. 

(Yes- I agree- we shouldn't be posting notes from our country - my bad!)  Stay away from the Birds $1000 as thousands were stashed away in people's SDB's.🙄 and of course it has ‘CANADA’ in the under print on the reverse!

Moneytane, I wasn't suggesting that the Cook £10 is common (only that there's plenty ‘d’ versions available with a near ‘a’ version price tag).

Honestly, I don't collect banknotes based on their beauty. I try to collect them based on other criteria which I cover on my site. My first 3 examples (without people for the most part tho the $50 from Trinidad features a dancer) are pretty cool b/c of their designs/colours & no royalty.  Usually, we have to settle for nice scenes on the backs when it comes to their beauty:

Like from Mauritius (5 Rupiah):

or Guernsey (20 Pounds):

but the best are if you can find one with both sides people (building, oil factory, crane free). The $5 from Rhodesia fits that bill nicely:

That is an absolute beauty Serial_Number_8

ahkai

53th0s

As an oddity more than for its beauty I like this one

 

N#210681

 

 

UK (Northern Ireland) currency brought to you by Danske Bank :)

 

For being pretty: 

 

N#208375

N#222485

 

N#264921

N#299997

 

I have that Latvia 500 lat hybrid note 2008 and it was expensive. The Latvian dealer went to his local bank and hand picked a replacement prefix AZ note for me at the normal price. It was worth it.

No doubt, face value alone is 750 euro. I think they can still be exchanged, too.

That's the one thing that really keeps me away from collecting notes, it just gets expensive really quickly. 

53th0s - the 1929 500 Latu by BW & company is cool.

As soon as I saw that note - could guess it is BW & company.

The design and spread of colours is sort of characteristic…like a painting.

I have this note from 1925 also  by BW & Company N#204707 

The rule about own country was invented late in the piece. The first post had nothing about where these notes came from.

Also I am a patriot, I love world notes and coins - but having a premiere collection of New Zealand, my home country also comes first for me. It has a short history of issuing compared to most places and most of the items are affordable. Plus many of you will agree, our banknotes are beauties, with our birds and unique Maori culture. They are great ambassadors of our beautiful and peaceful country.

Serial number_8, I agree I love your notes and realise beauty is not a main criteria. Mine are

1. Relevance - how does the note fit into the story of the banknotes of that place 

2. Completeness - Completing series and values in a set (I feel a set is incomplete if one or more affordable notes are missing and especially if they are really common and low denomination ones). Getting all the signatures and major types - prefixes is a lot harder and expensive with notes like Lefeaux and £5/$10 up!

3. Scarcity - How rare and desirable is the note, this leads into condition too. I am happy with low conditions for rare notes like my Lefeaux ones (Hundreds of dollars up), but expect VF or better for later and EF at least for modern ones (My series 6 notes 1999 - 2014) are constantly being upgraded.

Beauty, cost, prefix varieties are lower down. 

Some notes I can never buy as they are so expensive like all of us. I am sure collecting old $1000 and even $100 notes would get very expensive after a while, but $5 should be easy. In my case, any £50 note is pretty much out of bounds.

I also like cheaper notes too and ones from countries that make me laugh. I brought a 5 and 10 Zaires from Zaire and they cost like $2 each, big notes and they became worthless. But I think they are great as they show Mobutu and have some great art.

  I think this one is beautiful: however I don't otherwise focus on paper money at all. I'm into coins.

N#203912 

  I think this one is beautiful:

It's a big curiosity & typical of the era (built on hyperbolic status symbols & historical references).  Kind of like a puzzle piece.

I really like the simplicity of the 1960-1990's. I think that's why I like Canada's Birds series (particularly the reverse designs). I like the abstract designs from Aruba & the Netherlands (though I don't own any as they're outside my limits). 

Falkland Islands (1960-1980's) epitomizes the concept of simplicity on their banknotes.  Most of this series had fewer than 100,000 issued.

The front is a basic pattern (QEII profile on right with all info centre-left):

Denominations are stated once in the centre of the note (very subtle).  No markers (numerals indicating denomination) printed on the backs. You're entirely dependent on their colour codes:

Reverse of the 50 Pence (tan/brown):

Reverse of their Pound note (navy blue):

Reverse of the 5 Pound note (pink):

Reverse of the 10 Pound note (green):

Srpska Mreza

  I think this one is beautiful: however I don't otherwise focus on paper money at all. I'm into coins.

N#203912 

This is a realy nice one!

Serial_Number_8

  I think this one is beautiful:

It's a big curiosity & typical of the era (built on hyperbolic status symbols & historical references).  Kind of like a puzzle piece.

 

I really like the simplicity of the 1960-1990's. I think that's why I like Canada's Birds series (particularly the reverse designs). I like the abstract designs from Aruba & the Netherlands (though I don't own any as they're outside my limits). 

 

Falkland Islands (1960-1980's) epitomizes the concept of simplicity on their banknotes.  Most of this series had fewer than 100,000 issued.

 

The front is a basic pattern (QEII profile on right with all info centre-left):

Denominations are stated once in the centre of the note (very subtle).  No markers (numerals indicating denomination) printed on the backs. You're entirely dependent on their colour codes:

 

Reverse of the 50 Pence (tan/brown):

Reverse of their Pound note (navy blue):

Reverse of the 5 Pound note (pink):

Reverse of the 10 Pound note (green):

They are beautiful, these designs actually go back to designs from the 1920s. They kept that right up to 1983 when the current design came out.

Bank of New Zealand (A trading bank between 1861 and 1934) had similar notes with their series 4 pounds from 1888.

Here is another beautiful note from Estonia. This one is better looking than the one issued in 2000 when they changed the background colour from green to purplish.

I have all the notes from Estonia issued since 1991, except for 5 notes - 25 & 500 krooni (both 1991), 100 & 500 krooni 1992 and the 100 krooni 1999 commemorative note. They are now getting a bit expensive for to get them. Some years ago, the bank put together the circulating notes in UNC condition in a seal plastic sleeve and sold them to collectors as souvenirs.  Not sure if they are still doing this or still available.

These two are beautiful too.