For this note, the replacement version is described as "Prefix ZA or EA 8,000,001 to 8,200,000". Unless I'm wrong, this means that a bill needs both one of the mentioned prefix AND a S/N between 8,000,000 and 8,200,000. However, other websites such as banknoteworld don't seem to care about S/N, and classify notes with this prefix as replacement notes regardless of the S/N. Is there an error on Numista, on other websites, or did I just misinterpret the information about this replacement note on Numista?
I read the information as meaning Prefix ZA regardless of serial number or Prefix EA with serial number between 8,000,001 and 8,200,000. If replacement notes are continuing serial number could be bigger than 8,200,000 now.
Hi Will,
Thank you for your answer! I just noticed I forgot to include links to the mentioned banknotes, so here we go:
10 Kip: Numista - Banknote World (P-27r)
20 Kip: Numista - Banknote World (P-28a.2r)
I am still confused, because Banknote World registered the 20 Kip as a replacement note with an EA prefix but a S/N lower than 8 million, and some other websites did the same. Also, they picks listed by Numista and Banknote World differ for the 20 Kip bill. I am new to this universe, is there a way to be sure about which website is right?
According to the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money from 2018, the only determining factor as to whether the bill is a replacement issue is the prefix
I think there is a lot of unconfirmed information regarding Lao P-26 and P-27.
The original printings were done incorrectly by misspelling the Lao word for "kip". Notes started appearing with a corrected version using their typical "z" to denote a replacement note. Also appearing were corrected notes with a continuation of their normal serial number system. Now some of these were labeled as replacement notes and some as regular notes by Pick. As we don't know what he was thinking at the time or what information he was using, it is highly likely that there should be some correction in the numbering system. The only real way to do that is to find original documents from the Lao banking system or to engage in serial number studies.
To answer your question about which catalog is correct, there is no answer until solid evidence is collected.
There are plenty of mistakes in all the catalogs and part of the fun of collecting banknotes is finding those errors with examples that had previously been unreported.
