Reference book. Issue 10
In English and Russian.
30×21×3 cm
568 pages.

• Actualized and carefully checked information on cash circulation of all countries and territories of the world on the end of 2012;
  • Regional geographic information for each state (location, chapter, currency, issuing bank, etc.);
  • Peculiarities of cash circulation in the country;
  • Currency notes of each state are grouped by categories: main circulation banknotes, banknotes, which are rare in circulation, but still maintain the status of legal tender; banknotes withdrawn from circulation: exchanged and cancelled;
  • Rules and procedures for the exchange and cancellation of banknotes withdrawn from circulation;
  • Description of security complex general circulation banknote series;
  • Color images of front and back of general circulation banknotes with indication of security features.
  

Besides, you may find background information on monetary and economic unions, glossary of terms of security features and simple and convenient search system and cross-references.

Price: 200 USD or 150 EUR

The edition is intended for financiers, economists, bank personnel, traders, experts, geographers, historians, university professors and students as well as general public interested in history and economy of the world countries.

The series “World Currencies: Currency Circulation Chronicle — XXI century” (10 volumes: 2001—2012) is recognized by authoritative among professional directory editions in the world and is recommended for practical use in financial institutions the International association of participants of the currency industry (IACA).

Phones: +7 (499) 267-30-63, 267-43-38, 267-46-34, 267-49-74, 267-51-28.
Fax: +7 (499) 267-42-34.
E-mail: sibileva_t@icpress.ru; order@icpress.ru
You can also order this book online at www.icpress.ru

Tags: World

The 19th edition of Krause’s Standard Catalog of World Paper Money carries a list price of $70, but this 1,160-page black-and-white paperback without PDF version on CD-ROM can be ordered from Amazon for only $43.07 with free shipping. Of course, I’d prefer everyone purchase a subscription to my own catalog, The Banknote Book, but if you are going to buy the latest SCWPM, please order from Amazon so that BanknoteNews.com earns a referral fee.

I had planned to write a new review of the 19th edition, but instead recommend you simply read my review of the 18th edition because every general criticism remains valid, and even the specific examples of errors cited in my previous review remain uncorrected.

In a nutshell, hundreds of new notes remain unlisted, some listed notes don't exist as described, values do not reflect the current market, many notes are not illustrated, signature tables necessary for distinguishing varieties are missing, descriptions are terse, and typographical and factual errors abound. Of the new issues actually incorporated into this new volume, major new types are sometimes incorrectly shoehorned into old listings as mere varieties, leading me to believe that Krause has reached the page limit for this volume and is taking shortcuts to avoid adding to the page count.

Tags: World

The Banknote Book hit an important milestone recently:

150 chapters have been published!

This represents almost 1,700 pages covering more than 13,400 types and varieties, including more than 2,800 notes not listed in Krause's "Pick" catalog. Thanks to contributors around the globe, The Banknote Book continues to grow and improve week after week, with new chapters published regularly and revisions as needed.



To celebrate this achievement, you're entitled to 15% off the normal price for a subscription or individual chapters of The Banknote Book.

1. Visit the online store today and click the Add to Cart button for whatever you wish to buy, then click the Check-Out button.
2. In the shopping cart screen, enter MILESTONE in the Apply Coupon Code field.
3. Click Apply for an instant 15% discount.

If you've considered becoming a subscriber, now is the time to treat yourself to a gift that keeps on giving all year long. But don't delay. This discount is valid only through the end of December 2012.*

To everyone who has supported The Banknote Book over the years, happy holidays!
—Owen W. Linzmayer

*Discount applies to the electronic edition only, not printed copies sold through Lulu.

Tags: World

The Banknote Book is now available professionally printed on demand by Lulu.com.

All chapters 20 pages or longer are available as individual saddle-stitched color booklets.

The cost of each color booklet is $21.99 to $34.99, depending upon the number of pages.

Furthermore, the first 135 chapters published as of late August 2012 are also available as a two-volume perfect-bound set on US letter-sized paper with heavyweight glossy cover pages.

Volume 1 covers the banknotes of 65 countries from around the globe, organized alphabetically from Abyssinia to Kuwait. It is meant to be purchased along with Volume 2, covering 70 countries from Kyrgyzstan to Zimbabwe. Combined, these two volumes provide a comprehensive reference of the banknotes from the 135 countries included (see complete list below), but be advised that The Banknote Book is a work in progress and that not all countries in the world are currently cataloged.

The cost of each B&W volume is $79.99, and the cost of each color volume is $199.

Keep in mind that anyone buying the print edition also gets a free one-year subscription (or renewal for existing subscribers) to the online edition (a $99 value).

Click here to order the printed versions from Lulu.

Abyssinia Afghanistan Albania Andorra Angola Arab Rep. of Yemen Aruba Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Belarus Belize Bermuda Bhutan Biafra Bohemia and Moravia Botswana British Caribbean Terr. British Solomon Islands Brunei Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Empire Central African Rep. Chad Comoros Congo Dem. Republic Cook Islands Croatia Czech Republic Dem. Rep. of Yemen Equatorial African States Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Falkland Islands Fiji French Afars and Issas French Antilles French Pacific Terr. French Sudan Gabon Gambia Georgia

German Dem Rep. Germany, Federal Rep. Ghana Gibraltar Guinea-Bissau Guinea Guyana Iraq Isle of Man Israel Italian Somaliland Jamaica Jersey Jordan Katanga Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Macedonia Madagascar & Comoros Madagascar Malagasy Republic Malawi Malaya & British Borneo Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Memel Moldova Monaco Muscat and Oman Myanmar Nagorno-Karabakh Namibia Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nigeria Oman Palestine

Panama Papua New Guinea Qatar & Dubai Qatar Republic of the Congo Rhodesia & Nyasaland Rhodesia Rwanda and Burundi Saar Saint Helena Samoa Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Serbian Krajina Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia Somaliland South Arabia South Korea South Sudan South Vietnam Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Tajikistan Tanzania Trans-Dniester Trinidad & Tobago Turkmenistan Uganda United Arab Emirates Upper Senegal & Niger Uzbekistan Vanuatu Yemen Zaire Zambia Zanzibar Zimbabwe

Tags: World

I'm proud to announce the availability of seven thematic calendars for 2013 featuring some of the world's most beautiful banknotes depicting aircraft, beasts, beauties, birds, boats, bridges, and fish.

These 11 x 17 inch colorful wall calendars cost $24.99 each.

I personally ordered a bunch of calendars to give as gifts, and I must say that I am very impressed with the quality of the paper (thick) and printing (rich colors), and the beauty of the images (detailed).

Tags: World

I'm proud to announce the availability of seven thematic calendars for 2013 featuring some of the world's most beautiful banknotes depicting aircraft, beasts, beauties, birds, boats, bridges, and fish.

These 11 x 17 inch colorful wall calendars normally cost $24.99, but with Lulu's limited-time discount, you can buy calendars for yourself and friends for only $12.50 each.

Lulu is offering 50% off all calendars if you enter the coupon code IHEART50 (use all caps) during checkout. Be sure to order before the code expires at midnight on Wednesday 2 January 2013.

Non-US customers: Lulu has different coupon codes for its international stores. Either check the home page for your country's code, or switch to the United States store so that the above code will be accepted.

Tags: World

CoinWeek has posted an interesting video created by David Lisot, host and producer of CoinWeek video news service, during a recent trip to Europe attended the Maastricht Paper Money Fair held in Valkenburg Netherlands.

David interviewed many of the participants at the show finding out what collectors have in common with their counterparts in the United States. He addressed the economic situation in Europe and whether the hobby has been affected by the downturn in the workplace and the debt crisis affecting so many countries. He also shows examples of the some of the more popular bank notes collectors are buying.

Courtesy of Aidan Work.

Tags: World

Over the past year, several people have asked if it's OK for them to use The Banknote Book numbers in their inventory lists and on their web sites. The answer is absolutely, yes, please be my guest.

The main benefits of using The Banknote Book numbers are stability and specificity.

Stability: Once a number is assigned in The Banknote Book, it will never be changed capriciously, so you needn’t worry about referring to notes using outdated numbers, nor waste your time looking for changes in subsequent editions to keep your own collection inventory up to date.

Specificity: Unlike the SCWPM, which often groups several dates or signatures into a single variety, The Banknote Book breaks these out into their own variety listings, except for a few instances where doing so is impractical because of the large number of varieties, or the list of confirmed varieties is likely to be incomplete. Collectors who specialize in varieties appreciate being able to quickly find exactly what they're looking for rather than looking in vain through listings that encompass many notes in a single type.

I do not expect anyone to abandon Krause's Pick numbers any time soon, but I want to encourage everyone to adopt The Banknote Book numbers in their inventories, web sites, and online listings. If you do so, please refer to the catalog by its full name (The Banknote Book) linked to http://www.BanknoteBook.com.

Also, please reproduce the numbers exactly as they appear in the catalog (case-sensitive), starting with the issuer's abbreviation, a space, the capital letter B with the number immediately following, without a space or hyphen. For example, CBN B27a, for the 200-naira note from the Central Bank of Nigeria dated 2000. I wish to avoid the inconsistent references one finds to Pick numbers (i.e. P12, P12A, P12a, P#12a, P-12a, Pick 12a, etc.) that make it difficult to reliably search for notes online.

If anyone has any questions regarding The Banknote Book, please click here to write to me using the Contact form.

Tags: World

I am trying to compile a list of printed numismatic publications which cover banknotes. I know of a few of the major ones in the United States, but am not familiar with international magazines or newsletters.

If you subscribe to such a publication, whether in English or another language, please send me the precise name of the publication, as well as URL, email address, and postal address.

Click here to write to me using the Contact form.

Thanks in advance for everyone's assistance. I'll post the results on a new page in the Links section of this site.

Tags: World

InterCrim-Press is pleased to introduce its new product, “Currencies of the World: Cash Circulation. Analysis. Counterfeiting,” a unique digital resource providing up-to-date information on 182 currencies of more than 250 countries and territories of the world.

The directory is a useful tool for bank employees, security experts of bank financial institutions, law enforcement, customs officials, organizations and businesses of the world currency industry.

The directory consists of three constantly updating modules: "Catalogue of Currencies", "NEWS: Up-to-date information about changes in the currency of the world", and "Counterfeits".

• Module “Catalogue of Currencies" has descriptions of 182 currencies of the world (notes of the main treatment; notes, which are rarely found in circulation, but retained the status of legal tender; notes, which are derived from the circulation: exchanged and canceled; glossary of terms (a full list of terms and concepts with a description of protective elements used in banknote production).

• Module “NEWS” promptly informs about all changes in circulation of the banknotes of the world and provides links to the relevant section of the module "Catalogue of Currencies."

• Module "Counterfeits" contains basic information about counterfeit banknotes, revealed by the law-enforcement agencies in the Russian Federation and CIS countries. Information includes a detailed description of the main signs of counterfeits with the demonstration of fragments (fragments illustrated with simulations of protective elements on the counterfeit banknotes and comparative analysis with similar fragments in genuine banknotes) and of more than 900 varieties of counterfeit banknotes of the following items: rubles of The Bank of Russia, The U.S. dollars, EU euro, GBP of The Bank of England, The Bank of Canada's dollars, francs of The Swiss, People's Bank of China Yuan, the hryvnia of Ukraine, etc.

Each module contains characterization of the protective features of a complex series, high-quality full-color front and back images with the public, and machine-readable security features (images in the UV and IR spectra, magnetic protection), information about the composition of banknote substrate (paper, polymer, composite), printing methods, the date of entry banknotes in circulation, exchange rates.

Try the demo version of the product at http://demo.icpress.ru/en_index.php.

Tags: World

In response to popular demand, The Banknote Book is now available as a two-volume set professionally printed on demand by Lulu.com with black & white interior pages, on US letter-sized paper with perfect-bound heavyweight glossy cover pages.

Volume 1 covers the banknotes of 61 countries from around the globe, organized alphabetically from Afghanistan to Kyrgyzstan. It is meant to be purchased along with Volume 2, covering 69 countries from Laos to Zimbabwe. Combined, these two volumes provide a comprehensive reference of the banknotes from the 130 countries included (see complete list below), but be advised that The Banknote Book is a work in progress and that not all countries in the world are currently cataloged.

The cost of each volume is $79.99. Anyone buying the print edition also gets a free one-year subscription (or renewal for existing subscribers) to the online edition (a $99 value), it's as if the printed volumes cost only $59!

Click here to order the printed versions from Lulu.

Afghanistan Albania Andorra Arab Rep. of Yemen Aruba Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Belarus Belize Bermuda Bhutan Biafra Bohemia and Moravia Botswana British Caribbean Terr. Brunei Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Empire Central African Rep. Chad Comoros Congo Dem. Republic Cook Islands Croatia Czech Republic Dem. Rep. of Yemen Equatorial African States Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Falkland Islands Fiji French Afars and Issas French Antilles French Pacific Terr. French Sudan Gabon Gambia Georgia

German Dem Rep. Germany, Federal Rep. Ghana Gibraltar Guinea-Bissau Guinea Guyana Iraq Israel Italian Somaliland Jamaica Jersey Jordan Katanga Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Macedonia Madagascar & Comoros Madagascar Malagasy Republic Malawi Malaya & British Borneo Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Memel Moldova Monaco Muscat and Oman Myanmar Nagorno-Karabakh Namibia Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nigeria Oman Palestine

Panama Papua New Guinea Qatar & Dubai Qatar Republic of the Congo Rhodesia & Nyasaland Rhodesia Rwanda and Burundi Saar Saint Helena Samoa Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Serbian Krajina Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia Somaliland South Arabia South Sudan South Vietnam Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Tajikistan Tanzania Trans-Dniester Trinidad & Tobago Turkmenistan Uganda United Arab Emirates Upper Senegal & Niger Uzbekistan Vanuatu Yemen Zaire Zambia Zanzibar Zimbabwe

Tags: World

World Paper & Polymer Uncut Banknote
K. N. Boon, 154 pages, soft cover, 297 x 210 mm, color illustrations, Chinese and English, ISBN 978-983-43313-4-4, US$15, www.3833.com

K. N. Boon's recently published book, World Paper & Polymer Uncut Banknote, is the first catalog devoted entirely to collectors of uncut sheets of notes, and as such it fills an interesting gap in the numismatic field of knowledge.

I had hoped to learn more about how and why uncut sheets are sold to collectors, mailing/storage/display options, deciphering plate and block nubmers, etc. Unfortunately, aside from a few pages of introductory text, there's not much prose in this book, the bulk of which is devoted to depictions of the banknote sheets along with brief descriptions and variety listings. The text is written primarily in English, with some material also in Chinese. For the most part, the English is serviceable, in spite of some typos and awkward phrases.

The banknote listings are segregated by substrate, with paper-based notes appearing first, followed by polymer-based notes at the end of the catalog. I would prefer to see all of the notes of a particular country listed together, but collectors who specialize in polymer issues may appreciate having these notes broken out into their own section.

Within the paper and polymer sections, the listings are organized alphabetically by country, then grouped by denominations (smallest to largest), each in chronological order. Unique note types are assigned their own KNB numbers, with lowercase variety letters appended to distinguish between sheets with different attributes. For example, KNB4a may refer to an uncut block of 4 notes, whereas KNB4b refers to a full uncut sheet of 45 notes. Alas, there are no cross-references to other catalog numbers of the underlying notes.

In most cases, blocks (mini-sheets) or full sheets of notes are illustrated, except when the author wasn't able to obtain such images. In those cases, an individual note is shown instead. I actually prefer this latter presentation because the note's design details can be seen, which is not the case when the sheets are reproduced greatly reduced in size. I hope the second edition of this book will include larger illustrations of the front and back of individual notes to each listing for the best of both worlds. Another improvement would be expanded descriptions of the notes. Many notes lack any descriptions at all, and for those that are described, the text is terse and typically applies only to the front; usually the backs are ignored altogether.

Each listing has columns for Date of Issue, Quantity Issued, Issued Price, and Market Price, with the last two values shown in Chinese yuan (RMB). Market prices are given for almost all listings, but in many cases the other columns are left blank. Hopefully further research will result in this information being added in future editions.

Unfortunately, some unscrupulous sellers cut notes from sheets in an attempt to create "errors" or rare prefix varieties which are then foisted upon unsuspecting buyers. To the author's credit, some listings include warnings about this practice, and some listings also indicate the prefixes found on the sheets, but it's unclear if these prefixes are exclusive to sheets. More detailed prefix information might allow for the easy identification of such doctored notes.

World Paper & Polymer Uncut Banknote is an excellent first attempt to systematically document an area of collecting that has heretofore been largely ignored by other catalogs. Collectors of banknote sheets will most definitely appreciate having this handsome, professionally printed, full-color volume in their reference library.

Check out other book reviews and news on the Books page of this site.

Tags: World, Polymer

Krause Publications has released a new 13th edition of the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, General Issues, 1368-1960. I haven’t gotten a copy yet, but according to the press release, key features of the book include:

• 25,100 bank note varieties with current values in three condition grades.
• Enhanced note and color descriptions, allowing users to quickly identify varieties.
• More than 8,000 quality photographs to assist with identification.
• Historical details, grading definitions and numeral charts.

Like it or not, the SCWPM remains "the bible" for our hobby because its Pick numbers are almost universally used to identify notes. If you intend to get a copy despite its flaws, please support this site by buying the latest edition using this link.

Check out other book reviews and news on the Books page of this site.

Tags: Misc, World

World Paper Money Errors by Morland C. Fischer (Order from Amazon.com)
250 pages, soft cover, 230 x 150 mm, color illustrations, English, published by Zyrus Press Publishing, ISBN 978-1-933990-25-5

Reviewed by Owen W. Linzmayer

While there are several catalogs covering United States paper money errors, this book is the first attempt at a systematic approach to describing, documenting, and pricing errors on world banknotes. As such, it’s an important new addition to the world’s numismatics knowledge base, but it suffers from some shortcomings I hope will be addressed in future editions.

Author Morland C. Fischer does a very good job of explaining the various types of errors found on banknotes and has distilled them down to an eight-point FEN (Foreign Error Note) ranking system in which higher numbers correspond to more significant errors. Reasonable people might disagree over whether a missing overprint is more dramatic an error than an inverted back (FEN 4 and 7, respectively), but the codification of the taxonomy of errors is a welcome improvement to a subjective field of study.

The bulk of the book is devoted to illustrating the various error types, each broken into their own chapters. I found the introductory explanations of how specific types of errors happen in the production process particularly interesting. The book has color illustrations throughout, usually with the front and back of the error note at 50% actual size, along with a non-error note for comparison. This allows you to see the magnitude of the error and appreciate the artwork and intended design of the reference note, although some illustrations would have benefited by close-ups or annotations to highlight the affected areas of the note. There are lots of examples from many different countries and time periods, which is good overall, but it’s overkill for some types of errors, such as missing serial numbers, which are easy to understand without repetitive illustrations.

Personally, I would have liked to see more plate errors—also known as engraving errors—because I find man-made errors more intriguing than machine mistakes. As a writer and editor myself, I’m amused by the fact that central banks sometimes fail to catch embarrassing typos until after printing and issuing millions of notes into circulation. Alas, there are only a dozen such errors discussed. Entirely lacking are any examples of errors in security features, such as when a thread intended for one note appears in another, or the wrong watermark is used.

Anyone who has contemplated buying an error note will do well to first read the chapter on “pseudo” errors. At first glance these appear to be errors, but may have been intentionally created by unscrupulous collectors/dealers by miscutting individual notes from sheets or using chemicals to alter notes, for example. Sometimes they aren’t errors at all, but rather printers’ waste, proof notes, or remainders. Buyer beware.

Ironically, the author is not immune to making errors of his own. For example, he mistakes the front and back of Ukraine’s 20-hryvan note of 1992 (Pick 107), includes a 1,000-shilling fantasy note from Somaliland without mentioning its dubious origin, and the last few pages of the book are incorrectly set in fonts of varying size, resulting in a jumbled appearance. However these are all minor quibbles; for the most part the content is solid and unassailable.

My main complaint with this book is that author tries too hard to make the case that world error notes are undervalued. He provides a number of possible explanations for the disparity in prices between comparable errors on US and foreign notes, yet ignores what might be the most obvious explanation of all: differences in the values of the corresponding non-error notes. For example, he laments that a foldover error on a United States 10-dollar note dated 1969C (Pick 451d) is worth $1,000 - 2,000 whereas a similar printing error on a Mexican 500-peso note (Pick 69) is valued at $200 - 300. But when you consider that the SCWPM lists non-error examples of the former at four times the value of the latter, the price disparity between the errors doesn’t seem so significant nor unwarranted.

Judging by the passion with which he approaches his subject, it is apparent that the author loves error notes, but his insistence that world error notes are “undervalued,” with “considerable upside potential,” and “could be ready to explode,” comes across as a hard sell by someone with an agenda. I found cause for pause when reading “In some instances, a price may appear to be unusually high. However, prices were chosen to indicate what should be [emphasis mine] the fair market value…Moreover, the assigned price ranges reflect an extrapolation of expected prices over a period of five years from publication.” Pricing non-error world notes is fraught with difficulties (fluctuations in currency exchange rates and differences in foreign/domestic demand for a country’s own notes, for example) which are only compounded when considering far less common—sometimes even unique—error notes and trying to guess what they should be worth far into the future. The book would have greater credibility if it merely reported current free market prices and suggested reasonable premiums a collector might expect to pay for different types of errors.

World Paper Money Errors carries a list price of US$34.95 and can be ordered directly from Zyrus Press Publishing, P.O. Box 17810, Irvine, CA 92623. (888) 622-7823. www.zyruspress.com or purchased from Amazon at a significant discount.

Tags: World

The 16th edition of Krause’s Standard Catalog of World Paper Money is now shipping. I just received my copy and wanted to share my initial impressions.

At 1,112 black and white pages, it's exactly as large as the previous edition, though its list price is now $60 instead of $55, and it does not come with a disc containing a PDF version of the catalog, which is a great disappointment.

Also somewhat disappointing is that values for VG conditions have been eliminated. Now only VF and UNC conditions are listed. While some will decry this change, I think it’s a reasonable change because most modern notes collectors insist on UNC anyway.

More troublesome is that this edition continues the trend of covering only a fraction of the new note types and varieties that have been issued in the past years, and illustrating almost none of them. It appears that the cut-off for inclusion in this catalog was mid-2009, but many, many notes issued well before then failed to make it into print (The Banknote Update contains over 80 pages of images and info missing from the 16th edition of the SCWPM).

In an attempt to appear more current than it really is, the catalog has assigned Pick numbers to a lot of "expected issues." The problem with this practice is that many such notes are never released, inevitably forcing the editors to renumber at a future date, much to the frustration of collectors and dealers everywhere (my cursory examination uncovered a half dozen notes that have been renumbered or deleted between editions). Furthermore, the information (such as dates) in the listings for these expected issues often proves wrong, adding to the general confusion.

Speaking of frustrating and confusing, some listings refer to non-existent signature charts, or the signature chart exists, but hasn’t been updated to include the latest signatures, making it impossible to distinguish between varieties.

I haven't done a thorough check of the entire catalog, but a spot check revealed some obvious pricing problems, such as listing Armenia's 100,000-dram note at $250 in UNC, even though its face value is $263. The 50,000-won from South Korea, featured on the cover of the new edition, is worth $40 at face, but is listed at $50 in UNC. Good luck finding dealers selling notes with negative or nominal mark-ups.

Like it or not, the SCWPM remains "the bible" for our hobby because its Pick numbers are almost universally used to identify notes. If you intend to get a copy despite its flaws, please support this site by buying the latest edition using this link.

Tags: World