Buying Banknotes As Investments

It's a bit of a gamble, especially if you're talking about relatively recent notes, or current notes obtainable for face value from the currency exchange.

Historically, the best value notes have come from governments which weren't around for very long. Countries and governments which never got around to making coins also seem to do fairly well, as do notes with pictures of people who ultimately become notorious. Unfortunately, it's not easy to predict which ones those are going to be. We're also not normally talking as short a timeframe as 10 years, either.

I'd steer clear of high-face-value modern notes from countries undergoing some kind of upheaval or financial crisis - these are the ones likely to suffer from hyperinflation at some point, and your relatively scarce high-denomination note might be printed by the millions and end up being worth a few bucks for a bundle of a hundred. That's exactly what would have happened if you'd paid big bucks for high-denomination notes from post-communist Yugoslavia in the early 1990's, for instance.

My recommendation: buy what you enjoy collecting. If you happen to buy a few "winners", so much the better.

I'm pretty sure that in 20-30 years the demand for pre-euro notes will only increase. after using a bland, non-specific paper currency for so long, there would have to be some sort of interest in their old national symbols of identity.

certain countries banknotes, (like austria, belgium, and ireland), will always be exchangeable for face value at their central bank. other countries will eventually lose face value, like italy in 2012 & portugal in 2022. if you want to play it safe, load up on notes that have exchange rate value. that way you wouldn't have to fear losing your entire investment, like in the yugoslavia scenario.

another idea....vacation in the bahamas & bring back plenty of notes. those notes have always been pretty pricy, and they unfailingly go up in value over time.

Hmm so it seems looking for the moderate rarities and trying to get as many of them at a low/reasonable cost as you can would be a nice method for future payback.

re. the collector lots I have bought a couple but they are interesting nonetheless!

Who knows? might some of them be saleable in a few years time when I get bored of them...

Thanks again for the much useful advice..