A fine example of a major error where the banknote was folded during the printing process. The printing process goes through different printing stages resulting in the back design appearing on the front of the note. As a result, some portion of the back design was omitted on the back of the note. The note was the first error note acquired in the 1980s when I first started collecting. It was from a small little banknote dealer shop in the Peninsular shopping centre.
After laying off for quite a few years in banknote collecting, I decided to restart my banknote collecting and trading. The number of banknote collectors have obviously increase in number over the years. Old collectors whom I knew now are senior collectors / traders. Familiar dealers are still around. Some have passed away especially the really old ones. Some are in semi-retirement stage, reaping their years of collection by selling them off and live comfortably.
The world has become a smaller place with the help of internet. Selling and buying through various portals has made it easier for trading. Information flows freely which it never happen when I first started collecting my banknotes in the 1980s. Something has also change. No longer, collectors / dealers are relying on self grading to grade their collections. With the opening of PMG branch in Hong Kong, we see a trend for collectors around this region to have their banknotes graded based on an International grading body, PMG. PMG is based in USA. Sending your banknotes for grading is not cheap. It is even more expensive if you are not residing in Hong Kong or USA ( How I wish they have one PMG branch in Singapore to serve the entire South-East Asia). You need to pay for the insurance, shipping and other expenses to get your banknotes delivered to the grading company. It is a two way shipping. One advantage is that with international grading, there is no dispute on the grading of the banknotes. Otherwise, seller will always want their banknote to be graded higher and buyers felt it should lower in grade. Grading affects the value of the banknote. Whatever is the grade, this will increase the note value since the seller will need to factor in the grading cost. The question is, should we grade our banknotes ?
I started collecting Straits Settlements banknotes and coins. In those days, Straits Settlements banknotes are very much in demand especially for high grade ones. Today, the supply of these high grade Straits Settlements banknotes have dried up. Most of them have already been locked up in the collectors' collection. Unseen and unheard. If they do surface in the market, they are going to cost a bomb. Only the serious collectors will gun them down especially for those new collectors where money is never an issue. There is really no market pricing for the rare or scarce banknotes whether in type or grade. It is the mutual agreement between buyer and seller. If you refer to auction market pricing, then it is only for common banknotes which appear quite often in auction.
Straits Settlments 1925 $5. Extremely rare in grade. Original AU / UNC. Acquired this in 1987 at the Singapore International Coin Convention.
Collecting banknotes for investment can be quite tricky. Keen knowledge on the scarcity of banknotes is important. Areas of keen investment collection include first prefix, last prefix, as well as the mintage of the notes. Some banknotes have very short circulation. An example is the Singapore Ship series $2 in orange colour. As there were complaints on $2 having the same colour as the $10, the Currency Board decided to withdraw the $2 and replaced with a purple coloured $2 note. Based on this fact, the orange coloured $2 should be a favourite collector's banknote but unfortunately it is not so since there are abundance of them collected by collectors. That can be quite tricky as well. In Singapore context, Orchid, Bird and early Ship series solid number banknotes tend to have a better market value than the current Portrait series.
The Singapore Government started to auction out the solid number Ship $2 notes sometime in late 1980s or early 1990s. if my memory never failed me. It didn't received very well initially as most of the early solid numbers comes from the bank tellers whom spotted them while they were working in the bank. They were then sold to banknote dealers and collectors buy them. The earlier solid numbers banknotes may not be spotted and may not survived the circulation. Here is a good example in my collection where a rare solid number large denomination note survived the circulation. An orchid $100 last prefix A/6 555555. Because of the abundance and easy availability of auction solid number banknotes, collectors felt that it is no longer a challenge to own solid number banknotes. Over the years, these auction solid numbers have also steady rise in value as well as collectibles.
Most collectors will want to believe that commemorative banknotes are a must to collect. That is not very true for modern commemorative notes. Today, collectors collect such notes in bulk. To get them to become scarce will probably taken many years, maybe not in our lifetime. But collecting the rare serial number such as the first prefix solid number is still a good piece for collection. Here is an example in my collection where there is only one prefix A/1 for a solid serial number. They were auctioned out in Singapore.
Finally, all my Straits Settlements, error and world solid numbers collection notes still reside in my collection. If interested parties are keen, they can offer to buy my collection notes. If the price is right, I will let go my collection notes. As for my investment banknotes, they are for sales and you can pm me for the price if you are interested in a particular banknotes that is showcase in this blog.
Lastly, banknotes collecting or we termed it as numismatics is both a hobby and investment. You must be passionate about it and have a full understanding of this hobby cum investment. I find it rewarding over the years. Acquiring a piece and understanding the history behind the banknotes makes it even more interesting. At the end of the day, if you decided to sell it, if the banknotes is a rarity, you should be able to make a small fortunate out of this investment banknote. Enjoy your collecting and increase your knowledge for a better investment.
Collecting foreign solid number such as Macau 1991 can be quite rewarding since it was then still a Portuguese colony. A relative small country with a low mintage of banknotes circulated within the country. Today Macau is part of China. Collectors may have an interest in Macau banknotes especially those before China took back the tiny colony.
Look out for more posting on my blog on various interesting topics on banknote collecting. Posting may also list some of my collection and investment banknotes for sales or for sharing. Happy Collecting !
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