Does anyone want a very crisp Uncirculated bearer's cheque from Zimbabwe with issue date December 1st 2003 and payable on or before 31st December 2005. I have up to five of these in total and they are generally available only for crazy prices.

I will offer this at $18 15 delivered anywhere (am selling from UK)

Private message me in interested.

What is a "bearer's cheque" and what is the difference between that and a bank note? I see that it says "pay to the bearer on demand" but it doesn't say to pay what. So presumably the bearer would be paid in Zimbabwe dollars. I don't see the point.

Sorry but this is a sale post and not one for the discussion of numismatics, please only post here if you wish to buy something from me. Your reply was also a little negative so I feel it would only be a waste of time trying to convince you of the value of such a fine item anyway.

As far as differences between these and normal 'banknotes' , there doesn't seem to be many security features on these and they are printed on more normal type paper it would seem. There's also a date of expiry for some reason.

Mugabe doesn't want to make good on his currency. Strangely whilst they have expiry dates, they extend them if they are short on new cash. He stole an election, what is a bit of cash to boot?

TomD, I will try to explain it....

Zimbabwe is in a period of hyperinflation. At the time of independence in 1980, one Zimbabwean dollar was worth US$1.50. Since then, rampant inflation and the collapse of the economy have severely devalued the currency.

In the August 2006 currency reform, 1 new dollar was exchanged for 1,000 old dollars. The highest denomination was then 1000 new dollars.

Due to continued runaway inflation, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe released into circulation on December 20, 2007 three high denomination bearer checks, $250,000, $500,000 and $750,000.

On January 1, 2008, the bank released, for the first time, million dollar bearer checks, $1,000,000, $5,000,000 and $10,000,000.

On April 4, 2008, the bank introduced $25,000,000 and $50,000,000 bearer checks.

On May 6, 2008, the bank put into circulation $100,000,000 and $250,000,000 bearer checks.

On May 15, 2008, the bank introduced a new $500 million bearer check, and special agricultural checks in $5 billion, $25 billion and $50 billion denominations for farmers.

Zimbabwe dollar traded at about 250 million dollars to 1 US dollar. With inflation running at over 165,000 per cent, two loaves of bread costs about 500 million dollars.


So in essence they are not worth the money they are printed on. It is their current form of currency, but they are note banknotes in my opinion.

Matt I don't think TomD's reply was negative, he was just trying to learn what the difference was. Most everyone here is to learn and enjoy, so let up a little bit.

Zimbabwe's currency hit new lows this week, trading at Z$1.2bn against the US dollar on Friday 6/6/08 amid political uncertainty over a presidential run-off election set for June 27.