How to get value for money when buying collectable banknotes

Well-established dealers are usually more or less familiar with current market values, although their prices may somewhat. If you want to check that you are getting value for money, you will need a comprehensive and up-to-date reference book. The best of these is the Standard Catalogue of World Paper Money. This publication comes in three volumes. Volume Two covers national banknotes up to about 1961. Volume One is devoted to specialised issues (notes from private banks, regional notes, etc). Volume three is devoted to modern issues dating from 1961 approximately and is updated more regularly than the other two, to keep pace with all the new notes that are issued. Together, the three volumes list each of the 50,000+ banknote designs ever issued world-wide, along with illustrations and the current market values in each of three grades of condition. It should be noted, however, that no catalogue can be completely reliable as a guide to values. See our Collecting Tips Sheet No.6 for more on this subject. It’s free on request with orders totalling $40 or more. Values can change very quickly, especially when such factors as inflation are present. Nevertheless, the overall tendency is for banknotes to rise in value in the long run on the collectors’ market.