Saor Alba

Got the rejects at the bank where I buy the $50 bags of pennies today:

Austria 2 Euro Cent 2006

Japan 1 Yen, year 2(1991)

Kuwait 100 fils 2007

Nicaragua 1 Cordoba 2000

Sweden 1 Krone 2002

Venezuela 1 Bolivar 1989

Venezuela 1 Bolivar 1989

Venezuela 1 Bolivar 1990

Venezuela 50 Bolivares 1998 - curiously the same diametre as the 1 Bolivar - inflation must have taken over.

In the cents I found:

13 San Francisco minted coins

14 Wheats, dating back to 1941 and three S minted coins

1 GVI Canada cent

1 Rand from South Africa dated 1994, a nickel sized coin and nickel coloured also!

2 Roosevelt dimes.

Good district on the Cleveland too.

It must have been providential to acquire two "Landing of the Pilgrims" notes in recent days:

Near and dear because my family has lived there for over 180 years, and still does.

The World's Worst, But Also Cheapest Original Series Ace

This bank was opened as a NY State bank in 1854, a National Bank in 1865, and pushed up daisies in January 1900. I am just happy to own an original series ace finally. And the girls fit well into my notaphilic harem.

With the recent events in Sudan - I believe they will have to change the banknote - at least the map, by lopping off the Southern part of the country which will soon be known as Clooneyland. They don't have a name for the southern part that just seceded, but Clooneyland would recognise a figure that has been important in humanitarian efforts there.

Here is one of my recent, well some time ago but too lazy to work on images:

Bank of Commerce survived the Obsolete era and became National Bank of Commerce in Erie, charter 547. Only two brownback $5's are reported on that bank though. Obsoletes issued by banks that evolved into the National Bank era are quite scarce since they were often redeemed by holders of the notes.

I am getting particularly chaffed about all these African notes - they are just so fascinating and have great colours, themes etc. So far I am stuck in the CFA zone currencies, but am thinking of branching out a bit for type sets like that Tanzanian set.

Took my just finished their finals teenie boppers to Kentucky Fried Colonel for lunch, the tab came to $20.33 and I insisted on getting the two cents in change since I am saving all the bronze I can possibly get my snarfy clutches on - so I fork over the Andy Jackson, a quarter and two nickels. An' sure enough, the Wheat Cent Gawds were generous for me efforts - a 1951-D came home to my wheat cent orphanage for good. And his partner in change is also a bronze from 1969.

I still have some that I haven't even really seriously looked at - they just came and got put away until I can image them, research them etc.

That is a great banknote Saor Alba. I love a banknote that has history written into it. Who or what do you think the lady is suppose to represent?

Likely agriculture and plenty. Disturbing though is the $2 denomination of this series, which has a strikingly evocative racial depiction that is very telling of the postbellum South.

Abish - yep, just don't let her little creature get Libby or Libby will be a goner

Good luck Andy, an' I think Libby will bring you good luck too.

A note from a better known collection that some of was auctioned off in the FUN sale a couple of weeks ago:

This one combines my love of feminine form and well:

Trains! Talk about a note that combines loves, and well, it becomes so special. Another fascinating aspect of the note is that it actually crosses into a third facet of collecting for me, that of post-bellum "evasion" notes that were issued in willful defiance of the Federal statutes prohibiting their issue - in this case the issue was masked as a "fare receipt" instead of an issue of paper money.

The Brunswick and Albany was originally organised in the 1850's, was taken over by the Confederacy and destroyed during the hostilities of that conflict. Postwar saw the re-organisation of the company in 1869, but overly ambitious endeavours, including the construction of the hotel on the reverse of this note forecast the company into bankruptcy by 1872.

Busy week for acquisitions, so just to start:

Dominican Republic ~ El Banco Nacional de Santo Domingo

El Banco Nacional de Santo Domingo was a commercial bank opened in Santo Domingo ca. 1869, and issued notes in the Dominican Republic through 1912. It's first banknotes were printed by Franklin Banknote Company of New York, by the time this note was printed ca. 1889 the company was a subsidiary of American Banknote Company of New York.

Guatemala ~ El Banco Agricola Hipotecario - Un Peso 1920

This note is one of a series of banknotes printed by El Banco Agricola Hipotecario that were printed by Waterlow and Son's in London - curiously Guatemalan banks preferred doing business with Waterlow and Son's instead of American Banknote Company. It may have had something to do with the proximity of the then British colony of British Honduras and strong British commercial interests in that region. At any rate, Waterlow and Son's created some of the most stunningly attractive and colourful notes ever with this series. Great vignettes coupled with dramatic contrasts in colours make for very attractive banknotes.

A lovely vignette of a young miss in a chariot pulled by lions

This stirring vignette from the right of the obverse of the note is so emotive - milkmaids being watched leeringly by the cow they are milking!

Artistry and mere function clash with the whole of this design, it is hard nearly 90 years later to imagine having this note and folding it up and placing it into a wallet instead of admiring it's passionate appeal as art.

The reverse of the note portrays an apparently Latin American miss, but many banknotes that Waterlow and Son's printed bear similar lovely vignettes on the reverse of the note.

I go long times without finding anything, then today when taking Zincolns back to the bank to dump into their machine I found the following in the reject bin:

1987 Cayman Islands 10 cents

1957 Spanish 5 Pesetas

And the best find I have made in awhile:

1936 Canada 25 cents, .800 fine silver. $4.35 worth of silver

what you say about bronze is soooo true. the problem is getting specimens that are more than just examples of the many and various different colours of verdigris. I've seen some very decent bronzes of Hieron and other later Syracusan leaders but they too come with a price to match. The `balance' of affordability is all relative to the size of your pocketbook, no matter the type of metal. Personally I'd be too tempted to 'curate' a not too perfect bronze, so I tend to stick clear of buying ancient bronzes that are within my price range .

Ah, yes, nice bronzes are rather the exception, in fact they are decidedly quite scarcer in practice than the silver brethren. However interests in them by collectors are commensurately lower, thus they command lower premium. Somehow the soils of Sicily must not have been very conducive to preservation of bronze as most coins are particularly rough. Of course it is possible to set back five figures on a nice AE, but nice examples can be found in the mid three figures also.

From collecting experience, Syracusian coins are the epitome of beauty in ancients, but they are exponentially priced as you note. I myself have ventured into only one silver coin, and an 8 Litrai at that. Bronze is very very attractive, and much more attainable for collectors. It is rather like bronze is a bit overlooked, not that I mind though.

Bulgaria 100 Leva 1917

Politically Bulgaria has been something of a paradox in foreign relations. The area that is now Bulgaria had been dominated by the Ottoman Empire for several hundred years when with Russia's assistance the nation attained nominal independence in 1878. For that reason Bulgarians had a strong affinity for Russia, curiously the powers in the Bulgarian monarchy seemed to feel differently during times of conflict - often siding with the Germans as in WWI and in WWII.

Up until WWI Bulgarian notes had been printed by Orlov Printing in St. Petersburg Russia - and bore a striking resemblance to contemporary Tsarist Russian notes. The outbreak of WWI and shifting alliances changed all that, resulting in Bulgarian notes either being printed locally or in Germany as this 100 Leva note had been. It was printed by Giesecke & Devrient in Munich and has some of the best printing technique for the time. I have always liked the vignette of the young rural lady that graces this note, she is very emblematic of Bulgaria, and it's strong agricultural tradition. She is also testament to the fact that women in this region are very attractive.

This note has a wonderfully stylised border that is emblematic of a Celtic knot decour. Bulgaria has a very long history, as Maroneia and later Thrace and certainly the pattern in the border aludes to that early history of the region. This note promises to pay the bearer the sum of 100 Leva in gold coin, a huge sum of money then roughly equivalent to $20 in US currency at the time, but shortly after this note was issued it was rendered nearly valueless as the gold option lapsed and the Lev currency lost much of it's value at the cessation of WWI.

Lord's Prayer on a rolled 1974 cent. And a million dollar bill, one of those religious tracts that got the people that printed them in trouble, on top of the machine.

Finally got a shield cent in change! They've only been out for ten months... jeez! And it's a Denver, which is most of the way across the country, not Philly, which is in the state next door. I will *never* understand the dynamics of coin circulation.

Gees, I get the Denver mints in gobs in change. I don't see many of the 2009 dated cents though. I have yet to see a 2010 quarter in change.

'46-D Lincoln in my change from the U-Check at Meijers.

Brings to mind a few years ago when the ANA adopted a new logo with the Peace Dollar image and the 1891 date.

Just got this in the mail and could not wait to show you. A National Commercial Bank of Scotland Limited, 1 Pound from 1959. There is one just like it from the 60's but it is smaller and the tail on the lion is different.

 

Curiously these notes used a blending of the 1957 reverse designs from the National Bank of Scotland, coupled with the reverse design of the Commercial Bank of Scotland that was used from 1950 on up to the merger in 1959. The one element that had to change on the Forth Rail Bridge design that was borrowed from the National Bank design was that the ship there had to be moved into the shipping lane! Yes, on the 1957 notes the ship was in the non-shipping lane where it would have foundered in reality. A little goof by the designers at Bradbury Wilkinson.

I collected Scottish banknotes for a number of years before branching into other areas - still have quite a collection and a lot of fascinating stories about them - like the engraver's name surreptitiously in the field on the Royal Bank of Scotland Pound notes from the early 1950's series that he only admitted to having done in the early 1980's.

This note was first issued in 1922, and in 1928 the colours were changed to a dark green on a multicoloured underprinting. The note features this allegory of "Fortuna" on the right of the note.

The note features a conjoined vignette of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. During the 1920's and 1930's the Belgian Franc depreciated precipitiously in value vs other currencies such as the USA dollar and the British sterling, mainly as a result of debts incurred during the WWI German occupation and thence reparations that were only partially paid by the Germans after the cessation of hostilities. After the Germans occupied the country once more in 1940 they had intended to issue a currency meant to replace the Banque Nationale notes, but their plans never came to fruition and the ca. 1922 and onwards currency continued to be used through 1944 when the Allies liberated Belgium and the earlier currencies were withdrawn, demonetised and replaced by currency printed by Thomas De La Rue and Bradbury Wilkinson companies in Britain.

A fascinating aspect of this currency series was that trades were featured on the reverses of the notes, in this case a lacemaker is the subject.

Russia - Provisional Government - 100 Rubles 1918

Printed by ABNCo.

Mali 10000 Francs 1981-92

Here is my image of Sigrid Undset:

I think on your one image they must have re-engraved the neck area to give a better impression of a shadow or something.