Venezuela’s recall and demonetization of its near-worthless 100-bolivar notes, worth 2 cents on the black market, has been a disaster.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew ordered that abolitionist Harriet Tubman be depicted on the next generation of $20 Federal Reserve note.

The Central Bank of Iran will change the official Iranian monetary unit from rial back to toman as it replaces all the nation’s current notes with a new series.

India's economic woes, including a cash shortage, continue following November's surprise announcement of the withdrawal of 500- and 1,000-rupee notes.

Viola Desmond, known by many as the Canadian Rosa Parks, will be the subject of the next Canadian $10 note.

The 142 prisoners in the scheme were forced to forge, not only bank notes, but also postage stamps, foreign passports and ID cards.

A sampling of the prices indicates the strength of the Asian currency market. Eight individual lots surpassed $20,000 each.

This Hunkpapa Lakota tribal leader’s portrait appears on the Series 1899 $5 silver certificate.

The market for good and rare notes is maintaining its momentum, as illustrated by the results at the Lyn Knight Currency Auctions Nov. 18 sale.

A new smartphone or tablet app turns a scan of a $1 Federal Reserve note into a virtual tour of the White House.

England’s polymer £5 continues to make news, most of it, controversial. Now there is something not kosher about it, too.

Mongolia long ago provided the answer to the modern “tiny house” trend with the portable tent known as a yurt, seen on the back of Mongolia’s 500-tugrik note.

Learning the story behind what we collect can be as fun as actually owning it. And fun is what a hobby is all about.

Planned changes to existing Federal Reserve notes remain on track, but could that change during the Trump administration?

The Bank of Norway has completed the design of its new note series, and the first two denominations, 100- and 200-krone notes, will be released on May 30, 2017.

Coin World often receives inquiries about the appearance in circulation of $1 Federal Reserve notes bearing a stamped message referencing WheresGeorge.com.

Also this week, readers enjoyed posts about the price of gold's major November tumble, and a medal bought for less than $100 while being worth thousands.

The target date for the note featuring Alexander Hamilton and leaders of the suffrage movement is the centennial of the signing of the 19th Amendment.

The BEP placed a temporary “quality hold” on $2 Federal Reserve notes because they exhibited what the bureau calls increased “soiling.”

Peru has been known for several years as the counterfeiting capital of the world. At least some of the activity has now come to an end.

Art’s name is familiar to readers of our monthly issue, as our paper money market analyst. He is also a major force in the world coins field.

The news that India’s 500- and 1,000-rupee ($7.50 and $15) bank notes were suddenly withdrawn from circulation overnight hit the nation like a bombshell.

It is very human to see things that are not there. Chalk up the the jackass and devil's face people see on these notes as examples of that phenomenon.

Even with “repairs” and other problems, a rare note like this one can bring strong prices.

Also this week, we looked into what the election of Donald Trump means for numismatic collectors, and sales of gold Walking Liberty half dollar opened.

The Central Bank of Seychelles will launch a new family of bank notes and coins in December to commemorate 40 years of Seychelles’ Independence.

The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia is rebalancing the current structure of the notes in circulation with new issues and by dropping a denomination.

Someone was attempting to use cinematic prop money as the real thing in Independence, Mo., until a pizza shop manager got wise to the identity of the note.

During periods of economic panic, banks had to deal with shortages of coinage caused by a rush of demand, an event shown in a contemporaneous image.

Not only can it be shrunk, the ink on a new Clydesdale Bank £5 note (printed on a polymer substrate) can be removed through the use of a pencil eraser.

One is from the First National Bank of Topeka (Kansas) in Extremely Fine condition; it is the only such note known from the bank.

A promotional video from a service called Framepool offers a rarely seen glimpse of the currency printing process in the days of four-subject sheets.

The death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Oct. 13 unleashed a torrent of currency news. Here's what we know.

In celebration of the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, the BEP has announced the newest addition to its Lucky Money Collection.

In the mid-1960s, reading and acting on the fine print on a particular class of U.S. paper money meant big profits for thousands of individuals and businesses.

Old paper money is found in all sorts of unusual places, but perhaps none stranger or more historic than a recent discovery by catalogers at Mossgreen Auctions.

A $5,000 Federal Reserve note leads the small-size note selection in an upcoming auction by Stack's Bowers Galleries in Baltimore.

There are some numismatic series in which worn pieces are more desirable than Uncirculated examples.

Just when you thought that everything that could be said about the new Bank of England £5 note had been said already.

The Riksbank, the Swedish central bank, completed the introduction of its new currency series on Oct. 3 when it introduced its new 100- and 500-krona notes.

An extremely rare Bank of Taiwan “Fifty Yen in Silver” note dated 1901 went to a Chinese bidder for £48,000 ($59,700).

A Continental Currency note on marbled border paper provided by Benjamin Franklin highlights Early American History Auctions Inc.'s Oct. 29 online auction.

As much as cash remains an essential part of daily life in countries such as Germany and Switzerland, the exact opposite may be true not far away.

The Central Bank of the Bahamas has released the first issue, a $10 note, in its newest series of bank notes, the CRISP Evolution family.

Germany’s social welfare program known as Winterhilfswerk (Winter Help Work) issued certificates in an effort to keep the citizens from starving and freezing.

According to the company offering the course, students can learn how to detect a counterfeit note in about 45 minutes.

On Nov. 10 in London, as part of a larger auction of bonds and stock shares, Spink will offer what it is labeling “The Casino Collection.”

The Counterfeit Note is a painting that serves as an interesting visual document humanizing the problem of counterfeit money in the mid-19th century.

As Union forces approached New Orleans in April 1862, commerce continued, though cotton bales were burned and money substitutes circulated.

Planned to coincide with the introduction of its new £5 note, the Bank of England Museum opened its refurbished Banknote Gallery on Sept. 7.

The week of Coinex, the international coin show in London, will include a 790-lot auction of world paper money by Dix Noonan Webb on Oct. 3.

Indonesia’s new currency being issued later this year will bear the portraits of 12 Indonesians who have been officially designated “National Heroes.”

The National Bank of Ukraine issued a 20-hryvnia bank note on Sept. 1 in honor of the 160th anniversary of the birth of writer and poet Ivan Franko.

The fall auction season got off to a strong start at the Sept. 8 Heritage Currency sale in Long Beach, Calif.

Forty years ago, an unprecedented flood of Federal Reserve note errors began pouring into circulation. How did that happen?

Sheets of Polish 2,000-zloty bank notes that were printed for use in occupied NATO nations in case of a Soviet invasion will go on exhibit in 2017.

Innovia Films operates a plant in Wigton in England where polymer substrate is produced for Bank of England notes, and the notes of several other nations.

Engraver and inventor Waterman L. Ormsby always tended to be close by when it came time to produce notes for customers that “weren’t quite right.”

Heavily worn Series 1880 $1 United States note realized $15,000 in a 2014 auction because of its link to a historic event.

The government of Gibraltar will soon issue a polymer £100 bank note to commemorate, a year after the fact, the 100th birthday of Sir Joshua Hassan.

A book of South American specimens was the star in Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ ANA auction of world paper money in Anaheim, Calif.

A new report should assuage the fear of collectors that with the rise of alternate payment technologies currency will soon be a thing of the past.

The Bank of the Republic of Colombia introduced a new 50,000-peso note featuring Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez on Aug. 18.

The Paymaster Collection of military payment certificates drew high prices during the Stack's Bowers Galleries ANA paper money auction.

A June 14, 1938, laboratory report from the American Banknote Company was a fascinating find revealed at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Anaheim, Calif.

Small-size notes starred in the auctions at the ANA World's Fair of Money, defying conventional wisdom that large-size notes dominate collector attention.

An example of Irving House 3-cent encased postage known by as few as just two pieces highlights the Early American History Auctions online sale.

Working both within and outside of the confines of the law, American artist James Stephen George Boggs — better known as J.S.G. Boggs — is an enigma.

What is the history that makes an American Bank Note Co. stock certificate issued in New York and dated May 15, 1868, worth $14,400?

The famous “Old Man” 1,000-dong specimen note issued by the South Vietnamese National Bank is a highlight of the upcoming August auction.

All 20 million examples of the series' first note were snatched up in a matter of hours. Will the second in the series garner the same demand?

The Central Bank of Liberia announced a revamp of its existing currency on July 27 and added a $500 note to the existing lineup. Shown is the face of the note.

Counterfeiting in America is as old as the nation itself, as vividly revealed in a new book by paper money historian Bob McCabe from Whitman Publishing.

Southern printers often faced paper shortages during the Civil War, requiring them to take extraordinary steps in printing paper money.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is now accepting invitations to participate at numismatic events for the period of October 2016 through September 2017.

A central element on the future Swiss 100-franc note will be the Bisse d’Ayant, one of the largest irrigation canals in the southern canton of Valais.

Some new security devices for paper currency based on the concept of “micro mirror technology” were introduced at the Banknote Conference 2016 in Washington.

The 29th edition of the Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Government Paper Money is scheduled for release early in August.

The BEP says it would like to develop new devices and features based on raised intaglio printing, and what it calls “optical waveguide technology.”

The BEP confirms that Series 2006 $100 notes that were printed in Fort Worth with the “FW” mark were produced as contingency stock but never needed.

The uncut sheets of $1 Federal Reserve notes, long containing 32 notes, sold to collectors have gotten a lot larger.

Proof of the resurgence of the U.S. paper money market in mid-2016 will be on full display at the American Numismatic Association convention in Anaheim, Calif.

The updated €50 note will start circulating on April 4, 2017, and is the fourth denomination in the second or “Europa” series of euro bank notes.

The Paymaster Collection of MPCs, as it has been dubbed, is being called a groundbreaking find.

The highest denomination U.S. paper money currently in use in general circulation is the $100 Federal Reserve note.

For a fun numismatic hour or two in downtown Denver, this dad recommends the Money Museum in the city's branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

The first polymer plastic note in England's history arrives Sept. 13. It features Sir Winston Churchill, an icon of Britain's long and storied history.

Sometimes a watermark becomes visibly damaged, as with this South Carolina note from the 1850s.

A presentation set of five notes, each with hand-signed autographs of Treasury Secretary James Baker and Treasurer Katherine Ortega, will be offered.

Rosa Gumataotao "Rosie" Rios' final day as the 43rd Treasurer of the United States will be July 8.

The subjects and schedule for the July 28 Higgins Museum of National Bank Notes seminar in Okoboji, Iowa, is set.

The Bank of Thailand offered 20 million 70-baht commemorative bank notes celebrating the 70th anniversary of the reign of Thailand‘s much-revered king.

I’m a coin guy. Paper money always struck me as flat. But that's changing.

All three paintings were offered without reserve — meaning that the consignor, in this case an unnamed corporate collection — did not set a minimum price.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has an answer with the 2016 Happy Birthday Currency Note, featuring a Series 2013 $1 note.

The Polish National Bank said June 6 that a new 500-zloty note (the equivalent of $128) will enter circulation in February 2017.

Muralist Edwin H. Blashfield may be familiar to collectors for his vignette on the back of the Series 1896 $2 silver certificate, but also created sketches.

The House Rules Committee June 21 denied floor consideration of a proposed bill amendment aimed at curtailing currency redesign.

If you were to ask numismatists which denomination of paper money is least useful, nearly all would agree: “the $2 bill.”

The 40th International Paper Money Show was the last held in Memphis, Tenn. The next one will be in Kansas City, Mo., in June 2017.

Four fabled large-size notes broke the $100,000 barrier at the June 4 Lyn Knight Currency Auctions sale in Memphis, Tenn.

A "Black Money" Maryland note from the Revolutionary War era highlights Early American's July 9 online auction.

Taking a closer look at the fine print on obsolete bank notes can reveal a hidden history, as with the $5 note from the Lafayette Bank.

Philippines notes were among the top lots in Lyn Knight Currency Auctions' sale at the 40th International Paper Money Show in Memphis, Tenn.

Ten lectures over a span of two days were, as usual, a feature of the 40th Annual International Paper Money Show in Memphis in June.

The newest Bureau of Engraving and Printing currency offering went on sale May 17 and remains available.

Archives International Auctions will hold a public auction in Fort Lee, N.J., on June 28 of Chinese, Asian and worldwide bank notes and Chinese scripophily.

Stack's Bowers Galleries will offer rare New Jersey national bank notes at its auction held in conjunction with the ANA World's Fair of Money.

Reader seeking to cash in on his collection for tuition funds for twins needs to ID a mysterious note.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced that the remaining notes in its new “Brighter Money” Series 7 are now in circulation.

Counterfeiting of high-quality Federal Reserve notes can occur in the United States, as shown in 2014 convictions.

A pair of high-denomination Series 1928 gold certificates highlight a June 12 sale by a Minnesota auction company.

Also this week, former Coin World editor Beth Deisher advocated for historical U.S. women to appear on coins in addition to paper money.

Lima, Peru, is now the counterfeiting capital of the world, says the U.S. Secret Service, which seized 16 million bills of Peruvian manufacture in 2015.

Souvenir cards offer an affordable way to collect rare notes such as the Series 1896 silver certificates, better known as the "Educational Notes."

The large-size type section of Lyn Knight's June Memphis paper money auction has some that should approach and cross the $100,000 barrier.

The large-size note category, the one most observers look to when trying to categorize the state of the market, remains strong and active.

The Disney Dollar, a popular form of private currency since 1987, was discontinued on May 14.

The newest addition to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Intaglio Print Program, “Defenders of Democracy,” will go on sale at 8 a.m. Eastern Time May 24.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will soon print its own version of the U.S. dollar in an effort to ease the country’s cash shortage.

The European Central Bank announced on May 4 that it will permanently stop printing and issuing the €500 bank note by the end of 2018.

Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke used his blog to weigh in on the recently announced currency overhaul.

Taiwan confiscates $1 million Federal Reserve notes after one is donated to a foundation and bank attempts to cash the fantasy issue.

New Zealand’s new Edmund Hillary polymer $5 note is the winner of the International Bank Note Society’s 2015 Banknote of the Year Award.

From 1836 to 1852, the City of New Orleans was split into three municipalities; each issued currency. A four-note set of New Orleans issues is a collector goal.

A coveted trompe l’oeil painting of money highlights Sotheby’s American Paintings sale in New York City on May 18, Victor Dubreuil’s Barrels of Money.

Scottish novelist and poet Nan Shepherd will be on the next £5 note from Royal Bank of Scotland.

Nineteenth century English painter J.M.W. Turner is the Bank of England’s selection as the subject of the back of the next £20 bank note.

A Canadian woman will be featured on the first bank note of the country’s next paper currency series in 2018.

President Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822, and has appeared on a multitude of American currency.

A record number of 225 participating dealers were joined by about 1,000 visitors from all over the world at the Maastricht Paper Money Fair on April 8 to 10.

The first design in Switzerland’s new bank note series, a 50-franc note, was put into circulation by the Swiss National Bank on April 12.

True to creative Australian form, these notes are colorful and have plenty of Australian pride. They also have features that will help the blind.

Harriet Tubman, escaped slave and conductor of the Underground Railroad will grace the next $20 bill, while Andrew Jackson will move to a vignette on the back.

Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father getting lots of attention in popular culture these days, will stay on the face of $10 Federal Reserve notes after all.

Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father getting lots of attention in popular culture these days, may be staying on the $10 Federal Reserve note after all.

Benjamin Franklin’s first association with paper money may well have been to print it.

A new nonprofit organization, the American Stock and Bond Collectors Association, has been founded for collectors of stocks and bonds.

Two March auctions confirm the health of the paper money marketplace. Most lots sold and met their estimates.

A pair of iconic large-size notes long off the market will lead the Heritage Currency Signature auction held at the April 27 to May 2 CSNS show.

Bridges are common design elements on paper money, with euro notes depicting a series of fictional spans. Five Bank of Scotland notes show real structures.

The $2 Federal Reserve Note returned to circulation on April 13, 1976, the date coinciding with President Thomas Jefferson’s 233rd birthday.

An exhibit in Galveston, Texas, explores the early money of the Lone Star state.

Also popular this week were posts about the rash of counterfeiting of 1790s half cents and large cents, and the famed Oak Island "Money Pit" off Nova Scotia.

Haitian Revolution leader Toussaint L’Ouverture died on April 7, 1803, in prison, betrayed by a fellow revolutionary, Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said he's "close to reaching a decision" on who the first female historic figure to appear on current U.S. paper money will be.

The Polish central bank is issuing a legal tender commemorative 20-zloty note on April 12 for the 1,050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland.

There are many numismatic books about dollars, but only one book that is a dollar, or more precisely, is bound within a dollar bill.

Collectors are reporting that the troubled Series 2009 $100 Federal Reserve notes are finally turning up in circulation after being held back for five years.

In an attempt to modernize its classic board game Monopoly, Hasbro has released the "Ultimate Banking Unit" version of the game.

'Hamilton' cast might help save Hamilton on $10 note

The newest release in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s Premium Product series was scheduled to go on sale at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time March 29.

The central bank of Belarus will issue its third paper money series since 1992 by dropping four zeros off the ruble. The 500-ruble note will be the largest.

Often unrecognized is that national bank notes take up a preponderance of the space in most auctions.

As told by the Plattsburgh Press-Republican, “The Color of Money” is the culmination of a years-long effort by South Carolina graphic artist John W. Jones.

The 2016 Higgins Museum National Bank Note Seminar in Okoboji, Iowa, will be held on July 27 and 28.

Forbes magazine contributing columnist Tim Worstall has an unconventional take on the recent uproar over discontinuing the printing of high-value bank notes.

Some misguided collectors and dealers feel compelled to repair or reinforce the smallest edge nicks, fold separations or tears with tape. They create a mess.

It has been several years since the Bank of Canada has depicted any woman other than Queen Elizabeth II on one of its notes.

To commemorate the annexation of Crimea Russia issued a 100-ruble note in 2015.

A new currency series of 10-, 20-, 50-, 100-, 500-, and 1,000-rufiyaa notes (the latter a new denomination) entered circulation in Maldives on Jan. 26.

A theft of €50 notes from the security printing firm Royal Johannes Enschedé of Haarlem, Netherlands, was the result of an “inside job,” news report say.

The two-session sale by Lyn Knight Auctions in Rosemont, Ill., March 17 and 18 will include 799 lots of United States material from Colonial times to today.

U.S. government officials confiscated $4.65 million in “hell money” being brought into the country on the grounds that it is counterfeit.

Lawrence H. Summers, secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001, calls on the United States to eliminate the $100 note.

The Reserve Bank of Australia announced Feb. 11 that the first issue in that nation’s next generation of bank notes, a new $5 note, will be released Sept. 1.

The Royal Bank of Scotland announced Feb. 7 that pioneer 19th century astronomer and mathematician Mary Somerville will appear on a new £10 polymer note.

The spring paper money auction season kicks off March 18 to 20 in Rosemont, Ill.,with a sale conducted by Lyn F. Knight Auctions of Overland Park, Kan.

As the U.S. repairs relations with Cuba, American collectors wonder whether they will be able to freely collect the paper money Cuba has issued under Castro.

Despite the absence of any breaking news about the Treasury’s decision to place a woman on the $10 note, mass media cannot seem to get enough of it.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries has purchased the assets of Manifest Auctions of Greenville, S.C.

Citing the need to fight financial fraud and the funding of terrorism, the head of the EU’s Anti-Fraud Office said the €500 note should be eliminated,

Civil War scrip sometimes puzzling: Collecting Paper

An editorial in the Jan. 27 issue of the Sooke News Mirror in British Columbia calls for Canada to honor women on its paper currency, too.

The polymer trend continues in the United Kingdom as the Clydesdale Bank of Scotland announced that a £10 polymer note will go into production later this year.

In the 1800s and early 1900s, crooks enriched themselves by “raising” bills — making low denomination bills look like bigger ones.

The IBNS Banknote of the Year award is an initiative of the International Bank Note Society to recognize an exceptional bank note issued each year.

A report credits the use of polymer in Canada’s new bank notes starting four years ago with a 74 percent drop in the number of fakes passed in 2015.

The effort to place a woman on U.S. paper currency was brought back into the spotlight Jan. 21 with the introduction of Senate Resolution 348.

The Central Bank of Argentina announced on Jan. 15 that it will soon release an entirely new currency series, including high-denomination issues.

With the Bank of England scheduled to issue a new £20 note by 2020, a movement is afoot to place a portrait of David Bowie on the new note.

So few of them, each a distinct individual but united as a sisterhood — the sisterhood of women whose portraits have been depicted on U.S. paper money.

A previously unknown unique signed and issued $500 Treasury note of Jan. 22, 1847, sold for $199,750 at the Heritage auction on Jan. 8 in Tampa.

Ukraine's new 500-hryvnia note is predominantly beige in color and similar in size to its predecessor.

A small New York printer, Gavit & Co., of Albany, N.Y., was absorbed by the larger American Bank Note Company.

Among the most interesting parts of the Feb. 9 St. James’s Auctions sale in London is an offering of more than 2,000 bank notes from German East Africa.