The former republics of the Soviet Union are continuing to be a boon to collectors, with three of them announcing new, or updated bank notes in the last two months alone.

Uzbekistan issued a new 2017-dated 50,000-som note (the equivalent of about $12 at official exchange rates and $6.17 on the black market) on Aug. 22. The note is purple in color and measures 144 by 78 millimeters. The face shows the top of the “Ezgulik” ark in Independence Square, with three birds in flight. The back has the Palace of Conventions in Tashkent. The country’s previous highest face value bank note had a denomination of 10,000 soms.

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On Sept. 1, Georgia released a more modern version of its 5-lari note (equal to about $2.04). 

Did you buy a winner or a loser from the United States Mint? Also in this week’s print issue of Coin World, we not only learn more about rare coins, but collectible rare cars as well.

The note retains its old themes. The face is dedicated to the historian and linguist Ivane Javakhishvili and the building named after him at Tbilisi State University. The reverse is devoted to the paintings of Niko Pirosmani — A Fisherman in a Red Shirt and Threshing. The new note has upgraded security features and improved relief.

The Central Bank of Armenia announced a public tender for the designs of an entirely new, third series of notes of purple 1,000-?, brown 2,000-?, red 5,000-?, gray 10,000-?, green 20,000-?, and gold 50,000-dram notes. The nine-page document is available at www.cba.am under “tenders.” It specifies requirements, including whose portraits must appear on each denomination. That includes the American Pulitzer Prize and Oscar winner William Saroyan on the 5,000-dram note. He was born and died in Fresno, California, but his parents were Armenian. The William Saroyan Foundation says he is “a hero to the Armenian people, in Armenia and the global Armenian diaspora.”