The Ultimate Banknote Collection?

August 21, 2025

So far, I’ve written extensively on banknote art and the theory of banknote design, from both the perspective of security document creation and an end user. But I haven’t written specifically about banknote collecting — a $15 billion global market. So this essay will tick an important box — banknotes from present, future, and now past.

Why collect banknotes? I can only speak for myself. I have three distinct reasons and each reason gives inertia to three different collecting strategies.

First, as an artist and designer who has carved out a public-facing niche for themselves, it is my duty to keep a mandatory index of circulating banknotes. How could I talk with any authority on banknote design if I wasn’t intimately aware of the banknote ecosystem, in its present state and previous incarnations? How could I form an opinion on the future of banknote design, and its place in design history without access to a high quality library of material? This prompts me to seek out present and past banknotes, to familiarize myself with their technical construction and the various design modes in play.

My second reason for collecting is a way to conserve culture. Money is a work of art. The design of money forces us to apply the best craftsmanship, the most meaningful symbolism, and the most refined technology, to produce something that communicates value — all through our unique cultural filters. As a result, the history of money is an encyclopaedia of refined visual culture.

We shouldn’t take culture for granted. All cultures have an expiry date, the clock is always ticking. The least I can do is to take these artifacts off the market and conserve the best of culture’s finest visual heritage: money.

My third reason for collecting is the most straightforward: investment. As banknotes are a deep global market, this needs little further explanation. But these three reasons beget three different collector mindsets. As a designer building a library of material, I’m looking for good examples of interesting designs that push the art form. As a protector of culture, I’m looking for good examples of distinctive designs throughout history. As an investor, I want to own the indisputably rarest, finest condition, and most sought-after banknotes with deepest collector markets.

Think of these reasons as having escalating degrees of subjectivity. Only I decide what is an ‘interesting’ addition to a library of banknotes. On the other hand, historically significant designs are more proven by age. I’m compelled to collect what has, over the patina of time, earned the distinction of being historically significant. And ‘investment grade’ banknotes are not my choice — the market tells me what to buy. The deeper the market, the more popular the specimen, the more my mind has been made up. So to be clear, ‘investment grade’ banknotes aren’t my subjective favorites; they represent what is objectively desired by the market.

So in thinking how to make this article as helpful as possible, I’ve decided to run down just 5 banknotes I consider to be ‘investment grade’…

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1. Commonwealth of Australia £100 (Gold Certificate), 1914–1918

Printed by Thomas S. Harrison, the first appointed Australian Note Printer, at the Treasury’s newly established printing works in Melbourne, the £100 was among the first national banknotes of the Commonwealth, following Australia’s federation. The note’s design features Leura Falls alongside the Upper Yarra River, scenically depicted on the reverse. High-denomination notes like this would have played limited practical roles, possibly used more for interbank settlement or reserve purposes.

Approximately 553,000 notes were printed, but there are only 29 known survivors, plus just one trial and one specimen example. As a key early federal note, printed under the Treasury before central bank control, this becomes a ‘blue chip’ banknote.

Auction record: Noble Numismatics, Auction 121, Lot 4074, sold for $263,500.

2. Czechoslovakia First Republic, 1919 5,000 Korun

Designed by Oldřich Kulhánek and engraved by Miloš Ondráček and Václav Fajt, and printed by Státní Tiskárna Cenin, Prague.

After declaring independence in 1918, Czechoslovakia initially issued provisional banknotes by affixing adhesive stamps to Austro‑Hungarian currency. From April 1919, fully national Czechoslovak koruna notes were introduced, including the 5,000 Korun denomination — then the highest value in circulation. The 5,000 Korun note was quickly deemed risky because it included limited security features, making counterfeiting easier. As a result, it was taken out of circulation early. Only 500,599 notes were issued, and of those, only 98 uncancelled examples survive.

Auction record: PMG, $676,800; 2020

3. Palestine Currency Board £100, 1927 Series

Printed by Thomas De La Rue, this highest-value note was especially rare, with just 1,587 notes in circulation by late 1947.

The Palestine pound was introduced as the official currency for the British Mandate of Palestine and came into legal circulation on November 1, 1927. The note incorporated a rare combination of trilingual inscriptions — English, Hebrew, and Arabic. The obverse typically features significant regional landmarks; the Crusader’s Tower in Ramleh, while the reverse showcases the Tower of David in Jerusalem.

With fewer than 10 known examples remaining, the £100 is exceptionally rare, making any specimen highly coveted. The banknote represents the apex denomination of a colonial-era currency tied to a deeply complex historical period, adding cultural and historical value.

Auction record: Spink auction house, $210,500, April 28, 2022.

4. USA $1000 ‘Grand Watermelon’ 1890

Featuring the portrait of Major General George Meade engraved by Charles Burt, printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, under the authority of the U.S. Treasury, as part of the Treasury Notes authorized by the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

The is one of the most iconic U.S. banknotes ever issued.

The note was intended for payment to individuals selling silver bullion to the Treasury. They were redeemable in silver or gold coin at the Treasury’s discretion. The nickname stems from the large, rounded green zeros on the reverse, resembling watermelons. The reverse featured elaborate, ornate engraving — so detailed that the 1891 series was simplified due to concerns over counterfeiting and legibility. From an estimated 16,000 printed, only seven are known to exist today, with 3 held in institutions and just four in private hands.

Auction record: Stack’s Bowers, $2,040,000, October 2018.

5. Zanzibar 100 Rupees, 1908–1916)

Printed by Waterlow & Sons Limited, the Zanzibari rupee was introduced in 1908 to replace the Zanzibari ryal. It remained in use until 1935, after which it was replaced by the East African shilling.

The obverse features a Dhow boat on the left and fruit pickers on the right — honoring Zanzibar’s maritime trade and agricultural economy. It contains trilingual inscriptions: Arabic, Gujarati, and Latin script.
All Zanzibari rupee notes, including this one, were withdrawn in 1936 when the currency transitioned to the East African shilling. It’s estimated that fewer than 500 notes of all denominations from the 1908–1928 series still exist. They’re iconic pieces from Zanzibar’s monetary history, featuring distinctive regional imagery and rare design elements, and stands as one of the rarest and most sought-after banknotes from East Africa.

Auction record: Spink Auction, $125,500, April 2022.

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I’ll now summarize by putting my designer hat back on…

These are just 5 examples from my ‘Dow Jones 30’ of ‘blue chip’ banknotes. What qualities do they have in common? Of course, rarity, and rarely seen condition.

When I think of the common visual quality of my ‘DJ30’ list, they all have a grandiosity to them: outsized, large denominations, or outrageously decorative, to the point of offending our contemporary demands for readability. None can be revived and reimagined in a refreshed form: the strength of their design restricts them to a past age.

The vast majority of ‘blue chip’ banknotes were issued in the first half of the 20th century, at the latest. And so even though there is great design diversity among them, influenced by the unique cultures of their issue, they tend to follow conventional rules of early banknote design: guilloche + portrait + litho pattern background.

The world wars are strong punctuation marks on history, money and art. Consequently, blue chip banknotes are separated not just in the circumstances of their circulation, but in the ethos that underlies their design. The post World War II period marks the beginning of an increasingly experimental and diverse visual culture, combined with a stabilized world order, and the retreating influence of Western empires.

This, and step changes in security document technology, exploded the visual diversity of banknotes, as they continued to adapt to changing graphic design postures in a period of relative international cooperation: when there is peace, there is plenty of time and space for a design team and central bank to ponder the contents of their new notes. Contrast this with stories from World War II: abrupt cancellations, overstamped notes by occupiers, forgeries designed to create inflation, portraits chosen to purposely not offend invading armies, and so on.

As always, my core fascination with banknote design is its potential to graphically distill a culture’s unique reflexes. The design of ‘blue chip’ banknotes all do this to an extent, but it was only later that banknote design was freed by technology and experimentation to fully explore the art form. But of course, the best examples of this are to be found in my other articles.

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References
*Cuhaj, George S., Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: General Issues 1368–1960, Krause Publications, 2011.
*Pick, Albert, Pick Standard Catalog of World Paper Money: Specialized Issues, Krause Publications, various editions.
*Bruce, Colin R., Unusual World Coins, Krause Publications, 2005.
*Andrusiewicz, Andrzej, Money and Its Design: Art, Symbolism and Technology, Currency Design Press, 2013.
*Spink & Son, Auction Catalogues, Spink Auction House, 2020–2024.
*Stack’s Bowers Galleries, U.S. Currency Auctions, Stack’s Bowers, 2018.
*Schwartz, William & Lindquist, Owen, The Comprehensive Catalog of U.S. *Paper Money, 5th Edition, Coin & Currency Institute, 2008.
*Gilbert, Emily, Money, Citizenship, Territory, University of Minnesota Press, 2005.
*Helleiner, Eric, The Making of National Money: Territorial Currencies in Historical Perspective, Cornell University Press, 2003.
*Banknote World Educational, Banknote Collecting: Understanding Value, *Rarity, and History, BanknoteWorld.com, 2021.