Bulgarian banknotes

Hello
Am I old school?

 I say, son, go to the city, stop at the bank and try to buy "Bulgarian leva" for me at the exchange office!

The son says - don't be silly - the plane will land and I'll withdraw as much as you want from the ATM at the airport - it's a new era of ATMs and cashless.

I'm old school and I'm talking, my wife has a supply of Euros (these are sacred everywhere) I'll have the local currency with me, for a coffee or maybe a baguette or other little things.

Because I think electricity or other eccentricities may not always be common in the world.

today my son brought me these papers and most of them are XF or UNC. I put them in a collection and I don't go anywhere - - I like it🤣

Ivan

Hello
Am I old school?

Probably (because what you wrote sounds more like my way of thinking). But your son got lucky & you got some nice Bulgarian notes. Congrats!

I'm surprised by all the posts on social media of recently released Euros (from the Europa series) asking “What they're worth?”  Nice to see all the replies “Face Value” but I wonder why anyone would be content to keep ragged/circulated recent released notes? ( I'm sure “old school” coin collectors must marvel at the same (or similar) posts).  

Yesterday, I just read such a collector's post. He asked about a Fine to VF 20 Euro (thinking it was worth 200-300 Euros). I got a 2015 “Draghi” note just as uncommon as theirs in UNC this past Feb. They got their note from an ATM while I asked the nice lady at the exchange outlet whether she had any perfect Euros (& she exchanged the one I now have).  Sure, it took a bit longer to get mine but I would rather ask somebody for a nice note rather than “throw the dice” & hope for the best using an ATM. I guess I'm old school too! 

Acquiring banknotes from exchange offices is a good method because most of the time they are UNC and in consecutive order. I’ve done it a few times for Mexico pesos. Plus your paying much closer to face compared to buying it off the internet.

The only drawbacks is all the notes are of recent issue so therefore it’s unlikely you‘ll find older banknotes that are still in use such as US or Canadian notes from the 70s.

Worldwide collection

Acquiring banknotes from exchange offices is a good method because most of the time they are UNC and in consecutive order. 

 

The only drawbacks is all the notes are of recent issue so therefore it’s unlikely you‘ll find older banknotes that are still in use such as US or Canadian notes from the 70s.

In the US, you can actually get circulated notes from the 1950's b/c of the many billions of notes that circulate there.  Most of these (I see posted) are worth 2 - 5% above Face Value. You definitely wouldn't want to be selling your finds as you could be hard pressed to ‘break even’ once you factor in your seller's fees.

In Canada, you'd be very lucky to get a note from our 2004 upgraded Journey series (if you  withdrew tens of thousands from your bank or handled tens of thousands of $20 in commerce). It can be done but its nearly impossible b/c older series are actively culled.   The next best thing?  You might find a Birds $20 from the 1990's but that will be nearly falling apart in your hand (Good to VG: if you found 1 after much cash handling).   

Our older paper currency was easy (& rapidly) removed from circulation (placed in branch's “Mutilated/Return” pouch) because it was considered easy to counterfeit.  Since our 2011 transition to polymer, the chances of finding older notes was next to nil only a few years after the transition in fact.  There was a slight increase in seeing older currency during the pandemic once the Bank of Canada announced it was removing Legal Tender Status on a few denominations & a few CDN's dumped some of their old bills back into circulation (or returned them to their bank branches).   

There is the odd CDN collector (such as DEAN) who has built up great rapport with his banking staff & managed to get compliance when requesting to exchange whats in his branch's  “Mutilated/Returns” pouch.  He's a rare exception (not the rule as I've tried it many times & have consistently been refused except for once by a new employee). 99% of Dean's finds would be worth Face Value but I guess he enjoys the hunt. (Probably 50% of what he takes -the $1000.00, $2.00 & $1.00 notes- have no legal tender status & would require him to return to his branch in order to get credit for it) 

Serial_Number_8

Worldwide collection

Acquiring banknotes from exchange offices is a good method because most of the time they are UNC and in consecutive order. 

 

The only drawbacks is all the notes are of recent issue so therefore it’s unlikely you‘ll find older banknotes that are still in use such as US or Canadian notes from the 70s.

In the US, you can actually get circulated notes from the 1950's b/c of the many billions of notes that circulate there.  Most of these (I see posted) are worth 2 - 5% above Face Value. You definitely wouldn't want to be selling your finds as you could be hard pressed to ‘break even’ once you factor in your seller's fees.

 

In Canada, you'd be very lucky to get a note from our 2004 upgraded Journey series (if you  withdrew tens of thousands from your bank or handled tens of thousands of $20 in commerce). It can be done but its nearly impossible b/c older series are actively culled.   The next best thing?  You might find a Birds $20 from the 1990's but that will be nearly falling apart in your hand (Good to VG: if you found 1 after much cash handling).   

 

Our older paper currency was easy (& rapidly) removed from circulation (placed in branch's “Mutilated/Return” pouch) because it was considered easy to counterfeit.  Since our 2011 transition to polymer, the chances of finding older notes was next to nil only a few years after the transition in fact.  There was a slight increase in seeing older currency during the pandemic once the Bank of Canada announced it was removing Legal Tender Status on a few denominations & a few CDN's dumped some of their old bills back into circulation (or returned them to their bank branches).   

 

There is the odd CDN collector (such as DEAN) who has built up great rapport with his banking staff & managed to get compliance when requesting to exchange whats in his branch's  “Mutilated/Returns” pouch.  He's a rare exception (not the rule as I've tried it many times & have consistently been refused except for once by a new employee). 99% of Dean's finds would be worth Face Value but I guess he enjoys the hunt. (Probably 50% of what he takes -the $1000.00, $2.00 & $1.00 notes- have no legal tender status & would require him to return to his branch in order to get credit for it) 

Sounds like since 2011 hunting through Canadian notes have become boring and it was common during the pandemic people dumped collections into circulation I noticed a lot of high grade coins and from watching US coin hunters on Youtube there were many collection dumps.

I was talking in the context of finding older but still in use notes from exchange offices not from circulation.

Worldwide collection

Serial_Number_8

Our older paper currency was easy (& rapidly) removed from circulation (placed in branch's “Mutilated/Return” pouch) because it was considered easy to counterfeit.  Since our 2011 transition to polymer, the chances of finding older notes was next to nil only a few years after the transition in fact.  There was a slight increase in seeing older currency during the pandemic once the Bank of Canada announced it was removing Legal Tender Status on a few denominations & a few CDN's dumped some of their old bills back into circulation (or returned them to their bank branches).   

A) Sounds like since 2011 hunting through Canadian notes have become boring and it was common during the pandemic people dumped collections into circulation I noticed a lot of high grade coins and from watching US coin hunters on Youtube there were many collection dumps.

 

B) I was talking in the context of finding older but still in use notes from exchange offices not from circulation.

A) In a way, yes, & many collector friends who hated the polymer dropped out of the hobby.  But those of us who remained, soon discovered new tough prefixes in our new Frontiers series so I was on the hunt for these scarce varieties. 

B) I don't know what its like in the UK but our exchange outlets do not accept older series so we don't see these.  I've tried exchanging older Swedish notes & they refused (so I had to send them to Sweden's central bank for a direct deposit in my bank).  The oldest series I got from my exchange outlet was the 2015 “Draghi” 20 Euro (rather than the more recent Ligarde issue).  

On  a side note, it has become more difficult to recycle cash (change denominations) at banks b/c they have reduced staff since the pandemic & actively discourage us to do so. A few of the remaining collector friends I know often go to the casinos (play a few chips & then exchange the chips for crisp notes) since casinos seem to stock up on new banknotes (whereas the banks re-use the polymer until bills are falling apart).  

Serial_Number_8

Worldwide collection

Serial_Number_8

Our older paper currency was easy (& rapidly) removed from circulation (placed in branch's “Mutilated/Return” pouch) because it was considered easy to counterfeit.  Since our 2011 transition to polymer, the chances of finding older notes was next to nil only a few years after the transition in fact.  There was a slight increase in seeing older currency during the pandemic once the Bank of Canada announced it was removing Legal Tender Status on a few denominations & a few CDN's dumped some of their old bills back into circulation (or returned them to their bank branches).   

A) Sounds like since 2011 hunting through Canadian notes have become boring and it was common during the pandemic people dumped collections into circulation I noticed a lot of high grade coins and from watching US coin hunters on Youtube there were many collection dumps.

 

B) I was talking in the context of finding older but still in use notes from exchange offices not from circulation.

A) In a way, yes, & many collector friends who hated the polymer dropped out of the hobby.  But those of us who remained, soon discovered new tough prefixes in our new Frontiers series so I was on the hunt for these scarce varieties. 

 

B) I don't know what its like in the UK but our exchange outlets do not accept older series so we don't see these.  I've tried exchanging older Swedish notes & they refused (so I had to send them to Sweden's central bank for a direct deposit in my bank).  The oldest series I got from my exchange outlet was the 2015 “Draghi” 20 Euro (rather than the more recent Ligarde issue).  

 

On  a side note, it has become more difficult to recycle cash (change denominations) at banks b/c they have reduced staff since the pandemic & actively discourage us to do so. A few of the remaining collector friends I know often go to the casinos (play a few chips & then exchange the chips for crisp notes) since casinos seem to stock up on new banknotes (whereas the banks re-use the polymer until bills are falling apart).  

A) I mean apart from errors those are the few good things to find on polymer notes.

B) The vast majority are new XF-UNC notes which I have had consecutive notes although some exchange offices I assume purposefully mixes them up because I took like 300 Euros mostly in 5, 10 and 20s and they were between 4-20 off each other. The only older design I have acquired are the older Mexico 50 and 100 Peso notes pre 2020, the oldest is 2013.

The only time I have found new notes is when the new £20 and £50 were released, and one occasion where I found 2 consecutive £5 notes. Maybe when the King Charles banknotes are released I can ask for some. 

I've had no issue changing denominations in the countries I have visited £20 note in to £5s, 20 Euro note into coins and when I was in Dubai last year it was hard to find but when I found an exchange office that had the Polymer Dirham notes they were happy to swap them out.