I couldn't think of a better topic for my recent experience with banknotes.
Yesterday I went to a coin store in a run-down neighborhood in Torrance, which has some of the best coins I ever bought, mostly proof, UNC, and old coins for free. The store owner yesterday, however, was reluctant to sell me his world coins, telling me "there is too much work in something that isn't worth going through." He has coins strewn all over the floor, which he would not and never will sell. I ended up getting a few free coins though, including a rare 1923 Norwegian 25 ore (unholed).
The only thing he had left to sell me were UNC and Proof sets from the US, rare US coins and stamps, and world banknotes. Since I didn't want to waste the long trip I had from Huntington Beach to Torrance, I looked through his mint and proof sets, only to buy one Proof set, the cheapest being a 1993 set for only 3.75. With still a lot of time left over, I went through his notes, and he had some very nice ones. Any German or Philippine note collector would surely be impressed, since most of his notes were from the areas; pre-War German notes (including huge 100 Mark notes), embossed German mark notes, guerilla money during Japanese occupation, piles of United States Commonwealth currency, Japanese occupation notes (from Burma, the East Indies, Philippines, Oceania, and Taiwan), Indonesian UNC fractional notes, and some very few notgeld. My memory is slipping me, but he had some very nice notes for only 60 cents each. Notes that were torn were given to me for free, otherwise he would simply throw them away, being in such terrible shape. One of them, for example, was an Indochinese note missing half of its original design not on one side, but torn around the entire note. It's barely legible, but my friend would definitely want to have a piece of it (unintended pun).
I ended up buying Japanese occupation and Imperial notes, including a very common 100 Rupees and a Taiwanese note, occupied Japan Military notes, Philippine commonwealth currency, a Spanish colonial Cuban note, a Fascist Italian note, a German 100 Marks from 1910 in VF-EF, some UNC communist Asian notes, two USSR notes (for my father who's into Red stuff), a Russian imperial 3 roubles, a Chinese Republican 5 yuan, French mandate money from Morocco and Algeria, and two very torn Korean notes, a discard-worthy Canadian dollar, and a lifeless Chihuahuan note, all for 10 bucks (including the proof set).
Buying these 30-40 something notes wasn't what I'd imagine to do yesterday, but I was very impressed with the notes. The store owner, while I shuffled through the notes, asked,
"Have you ever thought about maybe opening a store of your own?"
"Maybe I could open a store to sell stamps," I told him. "It's a dying collector's fad, but they're easy to buy and they're... cool to look at."
"Maybe you should do notes. That's how I got into the business."
"I never really liked them."
"You'll like them over time."
I guess I do kinda like them. They're like stamps - once I had the access to buying the ones I liked, I got the books and everything. The reason why I didn't like notes at first was because of the serial numbers - every note is completely different. But the designs and the story behind them supersedes my reason to not collect them.
And there's my story of the store I went to yesterday. My banknotes aren't a collection, but they are, to me, "collectors items" that I simply have just for the fun of it.
Kenny
- Verifying your Asian and British-territorial coins everyday with the best quality photos and the best information.
I had a whole lot of Movie cards that I collected when I was a kid. My brother and I used to spend all our pocket money on them. I'm not sure if they're worth anything now but we had the complete set of the original Batman movie cards and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
Quote: neilithicI had a whole lot of Movie cards that I collected when I was a kid. My brother and I used to spend all our pocket money on them. I'm not sure if they're worth anything now but we had the complete set of the original Batman movie cards and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
It's a small market, but I bet there are collectors who would give you a premium for having the whole set.
Kenny
- Verifying your Asian and British-territorial coins everyday with the best quality photos and the best information.
They'd better, there was something like 140 cards in the set and we had to buy the equivalent of 4 or 5 full sets before we got a complete one. It's tricky when you only get $3 pocket money a week.
I have about 40 Medals/Tokens that I gathered so far from the coin lots I brought. Some of them look really cool though I am not sure how valuable they are.
“A man without a hobby is only half alive.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
@15turtles I can buy them off you if you want. I'm trying to get rid of some stamps, and I'm also trying to get some stamps from pre-1960's. Let me know if you're interested.
@sujit_kumar Medallions are like little, heavy pieces of art. Put some pictures up if you have the chance, I'd like to see them.
Kenny
- Verifying your Asian and British-territorial coins everyday with the best quality photos and the best information.
Hi all,
Interesting thread. I remember the first item I bought that started me collecting... it happened to be a misidentified baseball that got me collecting baseball memorabilia, just about anything except cards.
The misidentified autographed baseball I purchased had turned out to be a really big deal, and the media attention lasted for almost three years. It opened lots of doors for me, and I met some very interesting people. I was invited to talk about The ball and the story on TV and radio shows, and the press couldn't give it enough ink. (It was even stolen out of The Babe Ruth Museum where I had it on display and it was showcased for his Centennial Birthday party) Once the public found out I was considering using it as a center piece to possibly anchor a local museum, many people just started giving me their old baseball memorabilia, lots, and much of it of great Historical and monetary value. I explained that I didn't know if a museum would actually come to fruition, but they didn't care. I was moved by their generosity.
About 20 years ago I authored a book that was published in hardcover about The ball and my research uncovering it's hidden journey. Anyway, one of the things that was given to me was what was left of a prolific Baseball photographers archives and related items from his career, 51 years as a Professional Baseball photographer and Manager (1934-1985). Amongst them were 4" X 5", b & w negatives taken from one of those old Graflex bellows cameras, they're all posed images (like on baseball cards)of mostly Major League ballplayers from the American League. I know the photographer was commissioned to do artwork for several old-time baseball card company card sets. About 8/10 years ago I auctioned off almost all of them, and kept somewhere between 100/200 of the best ones (mostly unpublished). I thought I'd market various sized prints as limited editions, but never got around to it. What's left of my collecting spree just sit now. Every once in a while I'll go to my storage unit and go thru some boxes, great memories.
Now, at almost 70 years of age I started collecting coins. I appreciate the fine work of the designers and die masters, and their history. I've been doing this for about a year and have collected well over a thousand coins, only sold one to a young man in Sweden so he could complete his collection. Again it was an unknown coin that turned out to be one of those really rare ones without any auction History, or numbers known to exist. I knew it was going to it's rightful home, and, yes, I did make a handsome profit.
It only goes to show you that you never know when that one misidentified coin, or stamp, or 'autograhed baseball' that you happen to pick up will be the one that starts you collecting, or may open the door to an adventure that changes your life.
@sujit_kumar, I see some three Pachinko tokens. It's not that they're valuable or anything, it's just interesting that all of them use the same material and they're all the same size and weight, but they're used in different casinos all around Japan. I also like the contemporary fake 8 reales, very nice piece of history.
@dandelatorre, that is a really interesting story. I'm sure you had a lot of passion when people gave you those baseball memorabilia. It's definitely a good idea to check on your collection and relive the memories you had of your seemingly wonderful past.
Also, what was that valuable coin?
Kenny
- Verifying your Asian and British-territorial coins everyday with the best quality photos and the best information.
The coin was the 1671 Estonia-Reval 2 Rundstuck which you can find images of on this forum venue.
The ball was the 'ONLY' surviving Official American League Reach baseball that was 'USED' in the
1934 All -Star game, signed by 'ALL' the A.L. ballplayers who played and some who didn't. It was from the famous game when Carl 'King' Hubbell struck out five future Hall-of-Famers in a row; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. I auctioned it off after owning it 16 years.
and,
my book is, 'Pitched from the Past, The Journey of The 'Matchless Ball', by Dan de la Torre, with Diane Marcou, was published by Tradewinds Publishing Group, and which I still retain control to all copyrights and maintain small inventory of.
