see323

My favourite Straits Settlement banknote in my collection.

That's a long time. 360+ years. I am sure people must have suffered alot

Yes, it is not political tension in Britain but the overall high demand for British and British past and present colonial banknotes. The trend seems to be growing year after year. Somehow collectors likes to collect KGV, KGVI and QEII banknotes. Beware of non-original chemically treated lower grades banknotes sold in higher grades. There are also those who collect for pure investment. This causes the high demand.

A close friend dealer once told me that we cannot be a collector forever. As a collector for rare and high-end banknotes, it is impossible to keep on buying without selling unless we do not have any financial problem. In 2004, I started selling my early collection notes. I also started buying and selling those high-end banknotes. I find that I am getting a different sort of satisfication. I get satisfaction when I see my buyer is happy with his/her purchase. It is only when you sell, you are able to sustain this banknote hobby in the long-run. I understood this fact and continue with the buying/selling in this hobby since 2004.

Collectors usually do not sell their banknotes unless they find a better grade one to replace what he/she have in his collection. I used to upgrade the grade of my collection in the early days when I collect my Straits Settlements and Malayan banknotes. It was a tedious but enjoyable search. In those days, we do not have internet, the acquisition of banknotes are solely with public auctions, dealers and collectors. The effort put into searching for them over the weekend was exciting and tiriing. I always ended up broke each month. Still it is a truly enjoyable time when you see your collection grow and improve in grades. Over a period of 5 to 10 years, banknotes increases in market value. Understanding the scarcity of certain banknotes will help us to identify and increase our investment gains. On the other hands, you gain much satisfaction when your collection is in your possession. When I first started, I used to observe what a dealer buy at the convention. Without much knowledge, I bought an uncirculated 1940s Ireland one pounder at $10. After keeping for 17 years, I sold it at $120. The note should be worth more if I list it in ebay but it was sold to an international dealer. I regretted not buying a bundle of it. Still the bottomline is you must know what you are buying.

Yes, they ( 1953- 1961 ) are not rare at all but getting more and more difficult to find original uncirculated condition. Only the Straits Settlements series (1898-1935) are rarer especially in high grade condition.

No problem, take your time.

Yes, original condition and uncirculated condition is what most serious collectors and investors goes for. Somehow, the world woke up and world collectors love to bring one of these unique QEII Malaya and British Borneo note into their collection so that they can have a exclusive QEII Protrait world banknote collection. There are a lot of washed and pressed ones sold today. You have to make sure that those 11 pieces in running numbers are not folded with 1 ( centrefold ) or 2 folds. If there are folds, they will no longer be graded as uncirculated. Most of the time, "Any-Pow" money or red packet have notes folded because the early days red packets are relatively small in size. They have no choice but to fold them and squeeze the money into the red packet. Yes, I got those 1953 $1 in stacks of 100 pieces, They have all been dispersed over the year to collectors and investors. As for the Malayan $1 solids, I have to look at them. You may want to send me a scan of them.

A serious banknote collector only goes for original banknotes. When I was collecting in the 1980s, practically all banknotes are in original condition. I have never heard or come across any washed and pressed banknotes in those days. When I revisited my hobby in the 2000s, I realised that there are many good condition notes around. I later realised that the banknotes are professionally washed and pressed. I personally do not keep and sell any of these banknotes since they are in non-original condition. As the demand of these notes goes up, the supply of non-original notes increases. It all depend on what you want. Some collectors may not want to pay a lot for their hobby and may choose to keep non-original ones. I am not sure how these chemicals have an effect on banknotes in the long run. Usually they uses AB solution which were used for restoring stamps. I have heard of the use of Chinese herbs which are odourless. Whatever it is, the value of washed and pressed notes will drop unless it is an extremely rare piece. Go for original ones if you want back your invested money in the long run. Unfortunately, original ones are expensive. I used to have stacks of 1953 QEII Malaya and British Borneo $1 in running numbers ( original uncirculated condition ). I sold them away over the years. I remember buying them at $9 SGD per piece and I sold most of them away at $16 SGD a few months to foreign dealers in a Singapore International Coin Convention. The current price for each of them is around $60 SGD. Two months ago, I sold a running pair in ebay for $110 USD. The price does climbed steadily over the years. Great investment if you are buying them in bundles.

Hi RPT, Welcome to coinpeople. I believe you are from Malaysia since you collect Malaysian notes. Naturally most Singaporean, Bruneian and Malaysian collectors collect Straits Settlements, Sarawak, Malaya and British Borneo. For me, I collected from Straits Settlements ( 1898, 1906, 1914, 1909, 1916, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1941, 1953, 1959, 1961 ) and all the way up to Singapore notes. I sold my collection last year starting from the Malayan KGVI notes ( 1940, 1941, 1953, 1959, 1961 ). I also sold off a $5 1898 Straits Settlements note two years ago. I also have a collection of Singapore Post Bills from Chartered Bank (1859-1860) $5, $10, $50 and $100. These are one of the early money using in Singapore ( Malaya ). At the moment I still have those estremely rare pieces in high grade Straits Settlements notes with me. It is now more for investment than collection since I have move on to world solid number 555555 banknotes. You will be happy to know that Straits Settlements, Malaya notes are the 10 most sought after collector choice of investment in the world. They are unique and rare. Go for the high grade ones as they appreciate in many folds. Almost all the high grades Straits Settlements notes are already residing in the hands of collectors from Singapore and Malaysia. In the early days, many high grade Straits Settlements come from UK since this part of world ( Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei ) was under the British Crown Colony. This coming Spink Auction, you will be seeing many of the rare Straits Settlements and Malayan notes coming out from Steven Tan private collection. I believe you know who is Steven Tan, a well known Malaysian long time banknote dealer. He is selling away his vast collection since his children do not keep banknotes and coins. Here is an example of one of my rare purchase in 1987, I bought a rare original almost uncirculated / uncirculated Straits Settlement 1914 $5 at $2,300 SGD. In 2004, at one of the Spink Auction, it was sold at $11,000 SGD excluding commission. The prices are still climbing for rare high grade ones. Unfortunately, it is beyond the reach for my collection. I have since focus on my world solid number 555555 banknotes collection. In 2006, I managed to acquired an extremely rare uncirculated 1953 Malaya and British Borneo QEII solid 555555 from Brazil. There is no known solid numbers in uncirculated condition in collector's collection. This is probably the only piece known so far. If you can afford, go for the rare ones. It may be your collection at this moment, but will turn into your valuable investment in the future. Happy collecting !

Added two new banknotes, Nepal 100 rupees 555555 ( old series ) and Phlippines 5 Pisos UU 555555 ( old series )

I don't think my piece is a solid. As I am not too familiar with this older series Indonesia banknote, given the serial number 05555, it should not be a solid number unless there are some reason not to print a number greater than 0 on the first digit of the serial number. There are some countries such as Brazil where an earlier series banknote reserve the first digit as 0 unless it reaches a million to include a "1" on the first digit. I do fancy the prefix "50 ME". So far, I have banknotes with prefix OUR 555555, 0MY 555555, and this one ME. It would be nice to have a prefix FIVE 555555 in my collection. Any countries with four letter prefix so far ?

Honestly, I am not too bothered with the note condition since I go for interesting serial number that fits into my collection criteria . The watermark is the Indonesia crest. An eagle or bird with wings. If you visit any Indonesian embassy in any country, you should be able to see a huge one display at their hall. I saw a very huge one once in Singapore at the embassy.

Just added this interesting 1959 Indonesia 50 Rupiah with serial number 50 ME 05555. Lots of 5s and prefix 50 that matches 50 Rupiah plus a meaningful "ME" letter prefix.

The Dutch note with the sunflower is always my favourite when I first saw it but never have a chance to get a nice unc piece.

They are beautiful.

neat and beautiful.

Added a new scarcer prefix - Italy 5000 Lires Double Same Letter Solid DD 555555 into my Italian 555555 Collection. This is a duplicate piece of 5000 lires 555555 which I already owned ( AD 555555 ). It is a much better piece with DD prefix. I love the design of old Italian currency.

My latest Indonesia 1992 500 and 1000 Rupiah solid 555555. The 500 Rupiah is a rarity as it has the fourth prefix AAD.

Today, just added another interesting large denomination Pakistan RS 500 Solid T 5555555. Not sure when is the date of issue but it should be a brand new issue.

Thanks for the input. These early Jap notes is my third encounter and acquisition since my first is the Jap one yen silver coins 20+ years ago and of course my Jap solid 555555 banknotes. Yes, they are relatively inexpensive and surprisinglying brand new and crispy condition. I just love the sound when you hold of them in your hands. At that time, the Japanese have a lot of trading with the West which can explain why the English words are printed on the reverse of the notes.

Just acquire a few pieces of these early uncirculated Japanese 1916 One Yen notes. Something interest me about these notes is on the reverse. The american have the silver dollar. The Japanese have their silver yen. The note promised to pay one yen in silver. It also has a picture of a Japanese one yen silver coin to make sure people understand it's value in paper. I have two of the one yen silver jap coins. Here are the pictures for your viewing.

Added this Taiwan 2004 1000 NT Solid 555555

He is a generous person. He signed quite a fair bit of notes when he was alive. He was always doing charity work throughout his lifetime. A remarkable person. If the prices of these genuine signed Hillary NZ $5 increases, there will be imitation ones appearing everywhere. Let's hope it does not happen. I should be keeping this note for a very long time since Hillary is the first person to conqueror Mt. Everest.

Thanks. It costs me a bomb but it is a worthy piece for both collection and investment.