Paper Money Price Guide Book

[Catherine Nicolo]

WhitmanPublishing is the leading producer of numismatic reference books, supplies, and products to display and store coins and paper money. Our high-quality books educate readers in the rich, colorful history of American and world coinage, paper currency, tokens, and medals, and teach how to build great collections.

In his new Guide Book of Counterfeit Confederate Currency, George Tremmel updates his ground-breaking note-by-note research, and expands into counterfeit bonds, shinplasters, and Treasury note sheets...

This comprehensive online valuation guide for world paper money is available for free on the PMG website. The World Paper Money Price Guide is a virtually complete catalog of paper money values for world paper money from 1368 to date. Created by PMG and Krause Publications' NumisMaster, the world note price guide pages are arranged by Pick catalog numbers and include paper money values, images and specifications such as issuer, type and printer. Try it today >

We buy all U.S. and foreign rare coins and U.S. paper money that have extra collector or bullion value. This rare coins price guide and paper money price guide shown below is based on current market liquid values. This is generally what we will pay. The information should only be used once you have determined that your items do not have above average value. If you are unsure, email or text us your inventory list or pictures for a Free Appraisal.

Prices shown are for non-better date and mint mark combinations. IE, the most common items and conditions.

Most of the items listed are for circulated/used condition. If your coins or paper money are uncirculated then email us pictures.

Paper Money Guaranty (PMG) was founded with a commitment to accurate, consistent and impartial paper money grading. As a result of its expert grading services and advanced currency holder, it has cemented itself as a leader in third-party paper money grading services.

PMG has created this introduction to paper money collecting to help people start a collection. Scroll below to learn more about this fascinating and fulfilling hobby.

Collectors who travel abroad may also save notes from the countries that they visit. A popular goal is to build a collection that includes one note from every country. Not surprisingly, most people are unable to visit every country, and these collectors rely on paper money dealers who have storefronts, websites or other sales channels to help build their collections. Dealers are easy to find through the PMG Dealer Locator and the Professional Numismatic Guild (PNG), whose members are bound by a strict code of ethics and professionalism.

There are numerous collecting areas, and what someone chooses to collect depends on their interests, budget and other factors. Some collectors prefer vintage banknotes (generally defined as mid-20th century and earlier), others prefer modern banknotes, and there are many who collect both.

PMG is committed to providing collectors and potential collectors with as much free educational material as possible on its website. There are research articles, a price guide and numerous other online resources. Some of these resources are designed for collectors of all levels, while others are geared for more advanced collectors.

There are many basic and specialized reference books about paper money. For collectors of US notes, Paper Money of the United States by Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg is a must-have. Those who collect world notes should consider the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money. The Standard Catalog has different volumes for General Issues (edited by Tracy L. Schmidt), Modern Issues (edited by Maggie Judkins) or Specialized Issues (edited by George Cuhaj). PMG has compiled a list of many other popular reference books here, but this list is far from exhaustive.

If you do not wish to buy a lot of books, the American Numismatic Association (ANA), which was founded in 1891 and is the only numismatic organization chartered by Congress, maintains a lending library for its members to borrow through the mail. PMG is the official paper money grading service of the ANA.

Hobby periodicals and newsletters can also help keep up with the latest note-collecting news and research. The ANA publishes a monthly magazine, The Numismatist, for its members. Coin World and the Bank Note Reporter are popular weekly periodicals. PMG also sends a free monthly eNewsletter. Subscribe now >

Notes graded by PMG are also backed by the PMG Guarantee, which provides one of several possible remedies in the rare event that PMG mistakenly assigns a grade that is too high or grades a note that is not genuine. This comprehensive guarantee helps to protect collectors and give them more confidence in their purchases. As a result, PMG-graded notes sell for higher prices and have greater liquidity.

The paper money-collecting community is vibrant and tightly knit. There are numerous organizations for paper money collectors, including several national ones, and many local and regional clubs. Clubs have also been established for particular collecting specializations.

One of the largest numismatic organizations is the American Numismatic Association (ANA). Founded in 1891 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the ANA publishes a monthly magazine, holds conventions, conducts educational seminars and promotes the hobby. Learn more about the ANA >

Local clubs often hold regular meetings where their members can get together to meet other collectors and talk about paper money. The ANA provides a directory of its member local and specialized clubs on its website.

Another way to meet other collectors and talk about paper money is on the Internet. There are many free paper money-collecting forums and message boards. PMG, for example, has chat boards on its website where collectors can make posts and communicate with each other.

PMG has also created the PMG Registry, which gives collectors of PMG-certified notes another opportunity to interact. The PMG Registry lets you register your PMG-certified notes in a variety of defined categories using the unique barcode number on the holder, display images and descriptions of the notes for other collectors to enjoy, and compete against fellow collectors around the world for the best sets. Learn more about the PMG Registry >

From strings of shells in the Solomon Islands to large stone disks on the Micronesian isle of Yap or wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in Italy, money has taken many forms throughout history. Today, banknotes are an artistic expression of national sovereignty, with many countries choosing to immortalize famous authors and activists, local wildlife, and iconic national landmarks. In other words, modern paper money represents the essence, history, beauty, and ideals to which each country aspires. To see this diversity in action, we need look no further than the 189 member countries of the IMF that churn out 136 unique national currencies and form four currency unions.

Some old US paper money may be worth around face value, or it may be worth much more. Foreign currency has even more variability, with some notes being essentially worthless, and others worth thousands.

Let me try to remove some of the confusion. Imagine the only good in the economy is corn and corn costs $1 a pound, and imagine you and all others earn $100 a month. Each month you buy 100 lbs of corn exchanging $1 for 1 lb of corn; so the real value of $1 is 1 lb of corn. Now suppose the government simply prints more dollar bills and gives you (and imagine everyone else) an additional hundred dollars. If you want to eat more than 100 lbs of corn a month, now you can do so but presumably, since others like you also want to do the same, the demand for corn in the economy would go up and very likely its price as well. Now you would have to give up, say $1.50 for each lb of corn. This, roughly speaking, is inflation, and it is eroding the real value of your dollars -- you are getting less corn for every dollar than you used to.

You ask, won't firms rush to meet this extra demand caused by everyone having an extra hundred dollars? Yes, they would but they'd have to hire people to work in the farms and the higher demand for workers would likely raise their wage. Also, workers will see the inflation around them and want higher dollar wages so they can continue to buy as much corn as before. In short, wages in real terms would rise and this would erode profits and as such, farms will not hire as many workers as you'd think. So yes, there can be a short-lived stimulative effect of printing money.

Bottom line is, no government can print money to get out of a recession or downturn. The deeper reason for this is that money is really a facilitator of exchange between people, a middleman in a trade. If goods could trade with goods directly, without a middleman, we would not need money. If you print more money you simply affect the terms of trade between money and goods, nothing else. What used to cost $1 now costs $10, that's all, nothing fundamental or real has changed. It is as if someone overnight added a zero to every dollar bill; that per se, changes nothing. Just as giving every student 10 extra points on a test changes nothing fundamentally.

Since fiat money is not a scarce or fixed resource like gold, central banks have much greater control over its supply, which gives them the power to manage economic variables such as credit supply, liquidity and interest rates.

When governments began printing paper money these notes were considered to be as good as gold.

In theory, everyone who held this paper currency could go to a bank or financial institution and convert their currency into physical gold. This is what became known as the gold standard. Initially, the governments only printed as much currency as they had physical gold to back it up.

But soon they realised realized that the physical commodity backing the currency was tying them down from unbridled spending and also that a situation where everyone went to exchange their currency for gold would likely never happen. So, they began to print more paper money, thus creating the fractional banking system.

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