Country / Region: Bhutan

Continent: Asia

Denomination: 1,000 Ngultrum

Year: 2008

Grade: Uncirculated

Face Value (as at 2012.06.25): about USD17.50

Pick: 34

Figure (Obverse): Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck

Figure (Reverse): Tashichho Dzong in Thimphu

Interesting Fact: King Wangchuck is seen wearing the Raven Crown (dbu-zhva bya-rog-can), which is the most distinguished symbol of the King of Bhutan. The Raven is the national bird of Bhutan. Killing a raven in Bhutan would lead to death penalty at one time.

One thing that caught my attention is the rim of the Raven Crown, which is decorated with the motif of tantric skull. The tantric skulls are decorations associated with wrathful deities. You can find out more information about the crown here.

King Wangchuck has been called “The world's most handsome king”. He married Queen Jetsun Pema on 13 October 2011 and issued a commemorative note for the occasion. It has since become my favorite banknote from Bhutan. Will post it up later.

Country / Region: Japan
Continent: Asia
Denomination: 1,000 Yen
Year: 1963
Grade: Fine+
Face Value (as at 2012.06.17): about USD12.70
Pick: 96
Figure (Obverse): Itō Hirobumi
Figure (Reverse): The headquarters of Nippon Ginkō

Story: Probably the very first note that got me on this journey. My father used to work in a multi-national firm where he often had to go to Japan for short-term business trips. I remembered one time when my mother and I visited him in Tokyo, and a Kitazawa-san treated our family to dinner. Til now, the wagyu beef that night remained the best wagyu I had ever tasted :)

When my father returned from one of his numerous business trips, some time when I was four, he brought this note home, and somehow it ended up in my possession :) As you can see from the scan, the condition is nowhere near perfect, with brown stains on top and several folds on both sides. But this is and would always be a banknote that I will never give away.

By the way, Happy Father’s Day.

Interesting Fact: Hirobumi is the 1^st Prime Minister of Japan. He was one of the five長州五傑 (Chōshū Goketsu), chosen ones who studied in England from 1863 at University College London. It was illegal to leave Japan then as sakoku (鎖國) was still in place. As the story goes, Mr. Weigal, a manager of Jardine Matheson in Yokohama, disguised the young men as English sailors and brought them aboard on a vessel to Shanghai, where they were sheltered on an opium storage ship before dividing into two groups for the long voyage to London.

Supposedly, the captain of the first vessel took the boys onboard at 1,000 ryō (両) each. Exactly 100 years later, Hirobumi showed up on the national 1,000 yen banknote.

Country / Region: Mali
Continent: Africa
Denomination: 10,000 Francs
Year: 1970
Grade: Uncirculated
Face Value (as at 2012.06.16): about USD9.63
Pick: 15
Figure (Obverse): Man in front of a Ceramic Factory at Djikoroni
Figure (Reverse): Man with weaver, and a woman with a coin headband

Story: This is one of those banknotes where we CANNOT determine its current value by referencing its face value. In 1984, Mali has readopted the CFA franc, at an exchange rate of 2 Malian francs = 1 CFA franc. Applying this rate on this huge banknote and we would arrive at something like USD9.45. However, this is one of the tougher finds in anybody’s collection. The sheer size of this banknote only contributes to the difficulty to retrieve an uncirculated version. Anthony with his amazing connection found the entire set for me some time in 2010, and would always stay as one of my top treasures.

Interesting Fact: Issued from 1970-1984, this is the part of a set of currency used under the dictatorship of Moussa Traoré, who served as the Head of State of Mali from 1968 to 1991.

Country / Region: Faroe Islands
Continent: Europe

Denomination: 1,000 Krónur

Year: 2004

Grade: Uncirculated

Face Value (as at 2013.03.15): about USD167.83

Pick: 28

Figure (Obverse): Purple Sandpiper by Zacharias Heinsen

Figure (Reverse): A view from the Island of Sandoy by Zacharias Heinsen

Story: First post ever on this blog. Let’s start with a big entrance.

This is the highest denomination available from Faroe Islands. A lot of my friends are not even aware of the existence of this small and beautiful island, including myself(!) until I started to look into banknotes more seriously a few years ago. If we draw a triangle linking up Iceland, the northern tip of UK and the eastern tip of Norway, Faroe Islands would be pinpointed somewhere there between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean.

With a population of less than 50,000, Faroese can pride themselves for owning one of the best designed banknotes in the world. These banknotes do not have the usual white edges, which I think adds to the overall impression that this is a painting rather than a banknote. I particularly like how the Purple Sandpiper is “fading away into the background”,a genuine artistic touch.

Not an easy task to take hold of this splendid note, especially for those of us living in NEA.

Interesting Fact: The entire set of banknotes features watercolor paintings by Zacharias Heinesen. According to Wikipedia, he is a Faroese landscape painter born in 1936 in Tórshavn. Incidentally, his artworks are also featured in a set of beautiful stamps issued in June 2001.

Being a small self-governing dependency of Denmark, the Faroese Kronur is pegged 1:1 with DKK.

When did I shart looking at banknotes differently , as a thing of beauty rather than simply a medium of exchange?

Probably when I received my copy of 1000 Faroese krona, one of the most splendid banknotes in the world?

Probably when I found a 200 Franc note in the bottom of a drawer, something left unnoticed for years since I traveld to France as a kid in the early 1990s?

Or probably when I officially began my journey, a 1000 yen that my father brought home when I was four, after one of his business trips to Japan? In any case, I liked collecting banknotes since I was very, very young. At that time it was more like collecting random colored papers. This habit only started to take shape and become more organized in the past five years or so. I’m very glad that my beloved wife, Helen, is very supportive of what I do, which is not really an inexpensive hobby...

Unlike most other established collectors that Helen and I had met, my main focus is on post-1960 banknotes worldwide. Being an amateur (post-modern?) collector, my current goal is to first collect at least one full set from each country, and then we’ll see how it goes on from there.

This blog does not intend to present banknotes in a professional way; there are many of those out there already. I merely want to share my favorite things and my passion with my friends. Last but not least, I would like to thank Anthony Lee, a professional collector, a dealer and a friend of ours. Due to his sharing I have resumed this meaningful hobby, and started building my small stash of great beauties.

Enjoy and feel free to leave us any comments or suggestions.