see323

That's true. It's a zoological garden.

For those who are not residing in Singapore, they may think that the birds in the Singapore bird series are common to Singapore in the wild. Not entirely true. The tern depicted on the $1 is not so common as these are migrating birds. Usually found in coastal areas stretching from China to Australia. I have yet to see one in Singapore.

As for the sharma ($50), bulbul ($5), these are song birds kept by Singaporean. They are not in the wild. The $20 sunbird is a common bird in Singapore. The female are greenish yellow while the male ones with purple throated. I once caught a male bird. After studying it for 2 days and fed with honey, I released it.

There are a number of species of kingfisher found in Singapore. The $10 white collar kingfisher is a common bird in Singapore. They have distinctive calls. Even if you don't see them, you can hear them. You can find them easily in places where there are water.

As for the $100 bee eater, I have yet to see one. Maybe I did not search hard enough. Here is a photo of the colourful blue tailed bee eater spotted and photographed in Changi by Charlie.

Singapore Bird Series

I like the tigers on the Straights Settlements. I put them on my "want list".

Good choice of notes but they are expensive especially those $5 from 1925 to 1930 series and not easy to find them in high grades (AUNC-UNC). In my 23 years of banknote collecting, I only spotted three of them for sales in the late 1980s. I purchase one of them for my collection.

Malaya and British Borneo 1959 $1 Near Solid 505555

MMMM - They are beautiful. Quite refreshing to see such colourful notes.

 

Those are great, guys!

I have to get some Bermuda notes; I'm a pushover for anything purple, blue, or green!

Here is purple one from 1930.

Wow...so many ....keep coming...

Let's start contributing on banknotes with animals. Other than MMMM who specializes on animals, I am sure we do have banknotes with animals in our collection. MMMM, your specialized collection, keep the ball rolling.

Malaysia 6th Series $1 and $50

Nice HSBC and MB notes everyone!

 

I'm still waiting to come across a nice Mercantile note at the right price, but none have yet to turn up around here in any grade.

There is one in ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hong-Kong-Mercantile-B...=item563b99e841

That's an interesting topic.

Mercantile Bank was a much smaller bank, and had far fewer banknotes in circulation - which is regrettable for collectors - because they are wonderfully designed and in deep deep red:

 

 

 

Notes were last issued dated 1974, the bank was sold to Citibank in 1984 and the name disappeared. Subsequently the assets of the bank were sold to Bank of Tokyo - Mitsubishi in 1987 and the bank completely disappeared.

What a waste. There were also such cases of banks being taken over by other bigger banks in Singapore. Their names disappeared.

Interesting notes. Is the HongKong and Shanghai a private bank or a "government" bank?

HSBC is a private bank. It is one of the largest bank in the world. It has it's presence in every country. In Hong Kong, there are three private bank that issue HK banknotes. Bank of China (BOC), Chartered Bank and HSBC. In addition, the Hong Kong government (SAR) also issue HK banknotes. Currently, the HK government only issued the $10 notes. It can be quite confusing for HK people who have four different design of banknotes of $10 note. But I think they are used to the so many types of HK banknotes being circulated. It used to have another private bank - Merchantile Bank, issuing HK banknotes. I am not sure what happen to the bank.

this bloody Volcano is delaying all my arrivals

Mine too.

Hong Kong HSBC 1975 $5 Solid 555555. 1975 is the last issued year for this old style HSBC series. A difficult solid to acquire as there are not many solid number collectors during that time. Uncirculated with one counting mark, one light yellow spot and one brown stain ( seems like a brown ink stain used to print the design ). Bought this to match my HK HSBC 1966 $10 solid 555555 note from the same series. Enjoy the pictures.

Got this in the mail today. Can't use my scanner so this is the sale photo and only includes one side.

 

 

Nice serial number.

The significance of the B&W note is that it represents one of the last "souvenirs" from this printer, and their usual exquisite work. The Harrison's note is fantastic, being an admirer of Isambard Kingdom Brunel is a definite plus, he was a fantastic road and marine entrepreneur - the likes of which stands at the apex of amazing 19th century British industrialists, and worthy of a circulating medium beyond a commemorative - and more the likes of a circulating medium.

Saor Alba - Thanks for the information.

ehe, that to buy them(well one would be enough) in unc condition i will need some months of savings

keeping collecting

i would like also these :

 

 

 

but they are out of discussion for many months

Sorry, did not get what you meant.

I too have both the 1 and 5 pounds for this series but with solid serials.

Oops...After looking at the serial number again, I didn't realised that it is more of a radar than a repeater due to it's 5 digits serial number.

Straits Settlements 1930 $1 Fancy Number Repeater 27272

This is my worst condition note in my Straits Settlements Collection but it is also the nicest serial number among all the SS notes.

Extremely difficult to find nice fancy numbers such as repeater, radar, solids for any Straits Settlements notes.

Nobody collect fancy numbers during the early days in this region.

Arriving this afternoon was this rather hard to get (in a decent grade) 10 Franc note from French West Africa. It's smaller than I had expected, 3-7/8 inchesX2-3/8 inches (9.7x6cm) but it is the best grade I have ever seen.... and less than half price of one in a full grade below, so I'm pretty happy all around. Plus it's a nice solid serial number - even if it is that bad ol'e 666 - so I suppose that might be an added plus. Now I'm on the search for an AUNC to UNC 100 Franc note..... hard to find in that condition, though.

 

Wow...Dave...I love it. Beautiful note and beautiful solid 666. Congrats on your good find. My French and French printed notes 333, 030 and 005 should be on the way. Also waiting for 1975 HK HSBC solid 555555 on a $5. Pretty scarce solid.