Question about how you collect banknotes and some advice needed... [gelöst]

Hi all,
I am curious how some you member focus your banknotes collection. Do you collect specific notes, countries, themes etc...?

I was never really into collecting notes although I do have banknotes. I have passivley collected in the past the following notes:
Israeli
pre 1976 US
and hyper inflation notes

I never got into collecting random world notes. However my 9 year old daughter has been collecting notes for a bit and has a pretty decent collection for a kid her age. Today at the flea market she picked up 25 banknotes. It was a really beautiful variety and I felt a bit jealous ...

I'm thinking that once I get my coins in order I'd like to maybe actively collect banknotes. Problem is I have been known to hoard coins... random coins.... thousands and thousands of them... I don't want to repeat that if I start to collect banknotes. I want to figure out which direction I should take "when" i decide to start.

Like i mentioned above, i do have an almost complete Israel notes collection. All my duplicates I have given to my daughter and she now has an almost complete collection. I also have pre 76 US notes and about a dozen hyper inflation notes.

Of course the best thing to do is probably complete the few missing Israel notes.. but it's only a few that I'm missing so wont be a long lasting project. My US notes are great but they lack the POP of most of the notes that my daughters collection has. US notes are pretty boring relative to some of the notes out there. So although I'll still try and get them whenever possible I want something a bit more exciting.

A member on this site said something to me yesterday that I agree with 100%. He said that he has learnt more history from banknotes than from text books. I find that when helping my daughter research her notes I learn something new each time and it's really interesting. Being that the banknotes she chooses are generally full of color and pictorial it helps her (and myself) want to dig deeper into the story behind the note.

So, which direction would you suggest I start with? I know some will say collect whatever interest you. That's kinda obvious. I'm looking for some unique ideas for a direction to take.

The most important thing for me will be to stay focused so I don't turn this banknotes collection into a random hoard. Its gotta be something interesting.

Any and all ideas welcome....

Thanks for listening,
Aaron

This may not help you much but.....
I fell for collecting notes from all countries, signature and date varieties. Although living in Thailand now I try to focus on Asian notes. Many of the ones I'm missing are getting harder and harder to find. Sometimes when a trade is requested what you can get from the other party tends to be very random in nature so its kind of fun just building my collection with whatever is available. I do try to complete banknote families which is not always easy. I'm also closing in on having notes from all of the current countries. I also have focused on more modern stuff. The bottom line is you need to collected what makes you happy. In the end we always want more when we complete something.
Hope you dive into banknotes a little deeper and enjoy.

Obviously there are many ways, just like with coins. Collect by country, by continent, specific country, specific denominations (like only 5's), odd denominations (like 15, 35, 90), former colonies, former states, inflation, notgeld, animals, sport, or whatever interests you.

Mine is exclusively British Empire & British Commonwealth banknotes,coins,& postal orders.

Aidan.

Step no 1. Focus on what you like to collect. Make sure you know what you want to collect and like to collect. Some people are very extreme. The most extreme collectors i ever seen is collecting all graded banknotes at least 60 and above in a certain country with special numbers, signature, error, uncut, trail notes and variants. These would have cost a kidney.... At the same time i have seen collectors who are not fussy and just collect any notes that of at least fine condition with holes. Some people don like notes tear or pin holes unless it is super rare. For me i collect Brunei, Singapore Malaysia, japan and some random notes that i find i like and collect. Condition at least extreme fine and no pin holes unless is rare. Same for Coins, i collect Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.

Step no 2. Buy a catalog. A catalog will help in the very long run as compare to have a online interface. Online is always built by the community and the pros are any new notes, it will appear 1st as catalog will take time to publish and print. Once you have the latest catalog, make sure you follow the mint closely for any commemorative notes, online forum for variants and stuffs.

Step no 3. Storage is always the problem. I avoid putting my banknotes in a PVC plastic Sleeve to avoid PVC damage. I try to seal my banknotes if possible to prevent foxing. My banknotes are catalog nicely according to chronological order, arranged in album and the price i brought it. This is to prevent me from selling under price in case i gave up this hobby in future. Below are some pictures. For coins, same i put them in a plastic Quadrum and label it on the other page which is work still in progress. Then all the items would be placed in a Winebox and close it. For those coins or notes that comes in folder, I will ziplock them individually and put a slip inside how much i brought it. Only those recent coins less than 50 years i would put them in the flips and store them away in the album.











In fact after doing all the above, when i flip the album, because it is so neat and nice, it gave me the satisfaction of completing the collection and when i share it with my friends, they were like wow. Of course there will always be those collectors that see and say they are not UNC and blab blab blab saying their is more nicer and stuff. I will just ignore them and try not to talk or mix with them so much even they knew alot. Because i don really earn a lot of money and he does not know the value of each collector. And if they really want to compare, i don want to. Because i knew for me if i open my mouth nothing good comes out of it due to experiences. There is no perfect collection. That is the 1st rule for me.

banknote sleeves and album
https://www.lindner-original.de/en/banknotes/

coin quadrum and album
https://www.lighthouse.us/collect-coins/

Thanks all for your replies.

Saber82, I envy your organization. If I was that organized I wouldn't hesitate for a second to start seriously collecting notes. Currently I only have about 500-600 of my coins organized with the remaining thousands all over the place. Reason I think I can do better with notes is that I would be forced to store them properly to avoid them getting destroyed.

I will definitely get ahold of a print catalog and browse thru to see if anything tickles me.

Thanks again,
Aaron

Verweis : "aaronmgd"​Thanks all for your replies.
​
​Saber82, I envy your organization. If I was that organized I wouldn't hesitate for a second to start seriously collecting notes. Currently I only have about 500-600 of my coins organized with the remaining thousands all over the place. Reason I think I can do better with notes is that I would be forced to store them properly to avoid them getting destroyed.
​
​I will definitely get ahold of a print catalog and browse thru to see if anything tickles me.
​
​Thanks again,
​Aaron

​Hi Aaron,

Thank you for your praises. I believe you can do it. Before you get the catalog, get the album and protector 1st. Keep them in a album and then followed by a catalog. Then sort them accordingly to countries and series. Lastly label them if you want to or print some information about their country and history. Once all the above is done, then look at the catalogue and print the labels to get ready for the missing notes you wanted and reorganize the album. That way you will not get lost and surely will be neat. Seal the notes if you want to.

If you don't want to seal the notes a good way is when the note is in landscape, protector goes from top to bottom instead of bottom to top. Then put the note into the sleeve. That way will minimize the dust getting into it.

For the 3 pockets per page, I choose the ones with the divider because most notes I find that not 2 side are very nice. So I put only 1 side focusing the signature or stuffs. You can look at my photos and it will give you a ideal.

For your 1000 over coins, I suggest you take a break and some time to also sort accordingly. I also enter information into Numista accordingly only by the catalog and I own. But I Don grade it because grading is a art. Some I grade because is a proof coin capsule from day 1.

Enjoy your collection. I believe if you spend half an hour to 1 hour everyday, in no time you can do better than me. I do it every alternate days as I am busy with my own stuff. Discipline is the key.