The strange case of 'rarity'.

Recently, I found this book published in California, 1970, by author Smith.
It is really surprising how the two banknotes in the picture are today rare with a price of at least USD 500-900, while in the 1970 book they were USD 12, and 50 (inflation already calculated).
What has happened in this half century?
Why are these banknotes, as beautiful as ancient paintings, now almost impossible to find?
Greed of new developing peoples, or destruction of a large number of banknotes?

I think there are a great many factors that may be influencing the "value" of these banknotes but, I highly doubt that destruction of notes on a large scale is one of those factors. When these Chinese notes were made there were large amounts of different notes being produced in China by various banks and what not. It would have been cost prohibitive for dealers to keep up with buying large quantities for future sales. I'm sure many notes were actually used and very few survived actual circulation. Banknote collecting may be popular but not near as popular as coins so demand plays into this. Over the last 50 years the demand for Chinese banknotes has risen therefore driving up the value. Driving the value up also would be the surviving number of banknotes being less than or close to demand of the notes. If the demand for old Chinese notes continue to rise so will the prices. I think 50 years ago there wasn't really more notes available just less collectors and less information on the survival rate of the notes. Don't forget to factor inflation also.

Many Yankees don't give a fuck about anything not covered in stars and stripes and at time it was even more so, so less demand. Today more people collect a few inches out of their country interest (also many more Asians with money today) so the prices go up.

I see... the demand and Chinese demand itself... interesting history...as always

"It is really surprising how the two banknotes in the picture are today rare with a price of at least USD 500-900, while in the 1970 book they were USD 12, and 50 (inflation already calculated)." -Anticogentleman
- This is the source of much amusement (& chagrin) for many CDN currency collectors. The greatest discrepancy is observed with 1935 Series (P-38 to P-57), 1937 Series (especially Osborne-Towers P-58a to P65a) & 1954 Devil's Face Series (P-66 to P-73). It's a great observation 'Anticogentleman' because...

"Banknote collecting may be popular but not near as popular as coins so demand plays into this." -blue-m

And as 'Idolenz' alludes to, it's not just about demand but who demands & US paper money collectors currently make up the majority of World paper money collectors. They outnumber Canadian paper money collectors & have driven up the BV & MV (Book Value & Market Value) for the 3 CDN series I've mentioned earlier. There are newer series (change-overs, replacements) that are quite scarce but get little fanfare from SCWPM (hence no/little interest from World collectors).

Many collectors assume that rarity/scarcity directly impacts BV (& MV). As a young collector I struggled buying UNC Devil's Face banknotes because they were so common (& yet always dear IMO). Fore example, nearly 200,000,000 $1.00 banknotes (with Devil's Face) were printed in the two years they were produced but brisk World demand (& US currency dealers in particular) kept this series popular & expensive (hot market always driving up BV's). There are many scarcer replacements of the Modified 1954 Series such as the *A/A $1 (Beattie-Coyne) with 64,000 printed and yet $150 less than the Coyne-Towers Devil's Face $1 A/A (10,000,000) & $350 less than the Beattie-Coyne $1 H/A (2,800,000).

The same phenomenon can be said for banknotes that have cool names (Seychelles SEX note), OR are a inherently valuable currency (Brunei, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) OR are simply popular because huge sectors of the population migrated & became affluent (yes -I'm thinking of banknotes from India, Bangladesh, Israel & of course China). I am continually surprised at how some 1970 series from the above countries will settle at 4-10X current SCWPM BV estimates.

So demand, condition & collector's perception (of what's a cool note design) can all come into play as to what collectors will pay (MV combined with BV) for any series.

Some years ago, dealers could not keep anything in stock that was Russian. It was a time when the average person had more money and their economy was great. Many collectibles were repatriated at huge prices.
prior to this, it happened with Powish coins...before that Scandinavian was hot.

I suspect with more people in Asia having funds...we are seeing demand and competition driving up prices.

This phenomenon is somewhat similar to that of palladium. I was thinking these days, how lucky are those who bought palladium coins 30 years ago.