Does anyone in here have experience in ordering currently circulating currency direct from the issuing central banks? There are some harder to find types of currency out there that might be easier to get just by purchasing via the central bank.

If any of you have done this, share your experiences here, along with the pitfalls and advantages, if any.

I think See will be able to help you in this area if I understand your Q correctly.

I've done business with the central banks of the Philippines, Malta, and Lithuania. The only problem I had was with Lithuania, but it wasn't really their fault. Their staff was very helpful, and they spoke decent english. But being in the U.S. at the time, the only way I could pay was with a wire transfer. They had an account with Chase Manhattan, along with a SWIFT number, but my bank people were confused with the paperwork. They said they couldn't put "The Bank of Lithuania" as a payee, and wanted a person's name. Something about different procedures for bank to bank transfers and Bank of Lithuania/Chase Manhattan Bank confused the hell out of them. I eventually just gave up.

Besides that, buying directly from banks is generally the cheapest route to go. There's no middleman banknote dealer there to charge a little extra to make a profit. They usually sell only special items like commemoratives and millenium issues...but in Lithuania's case they were offering low serial numbers for regular issues. Not very many banks sell their notes via post, (you'd have to visit their museum/shop or country in person), but I highly recommend it when you find one.

I never tried to order from Central banks before.

Note that you can check out my list of world banks that I have compiled - http://www.gxseries.com/worldmoneylist.htm I've done the work

As far as I know, those are the official banks, money authorities although I will not take responsiblity if I did put in a wrong url infomation by accident.

Not really Central Banks, but commercial banks in Northern Ireland were helpful when I ordered notes from the Allied Irish Banks(now First Trust), Bank of Ireland, Northern Bank, and Ulster Bank. All of them then would provide banknotes from their banks and you could wire the funds into New York accounts.

I've ordered directly from some central banks in the past, but honestly don't bother any more. It's more hassle than it's worth. Most banks ignore emails completely, even though they have a Contact Us form or email address on their site soliciting communications. And few banks are set up to sell direct to collectors. Some bank employees have been willing to help me on an unofficial basis, but they often don't undertand what UNC means. In short, there's a reason we pay dealers a premium to bring modern UNC notes to market: they've done the hard work so we don't have to.

Once I wrote to some of the emails stated in the Bank website. The reply came. Very friendly and helpful. They recommended me to some of the reputable banknote dealers. They gave me some emails. I email to them. Until today, no reply from the country's local banknote dealers. I email the bank employee again, they also give up and said sorry to me. I too give up the idea to buy direct from the banks.