INTERVIEWS
Interviews with AN accomplished notaphilist:
Setting up & arranging an interview with an accomplished currency collector is no small feat for obvious reasons. Primarily, at least here in Canada, most rare currency experts prefer anonymity. Can you blame them? Most of these people have collections which are worth a small fortune. Insurance premiums have skyrocketed and nobody wants to become a target.
Why on earth would they wish to reveal anything about themselves or their prized possessions? Thus, these few experts with their elite collections remain elusive figures who most of us choose to forget or secretly wish we could join their ranks someday. Some of us might have seen the odd American (or world) collector (a Saudi sheik or US millionaire who can afford tight security) give the odd interview & I have to say these interviews are a rare treat to see. However, seldom do we get a peak of the serious collector who got involved in the hobby at an early age and managed to collect all the RARE notes so selectively.
That has been my privilege urged on by Sheldon Pimentel (or CANADIAN_BANKNOTES on IG). He came up with the idea & a list of the majority of questions I should ask. In future referrals I will name our expert collector "Phil Notes" since he wishes to remain completely anonymous. Phil declined the option for a video interview so we have a print version instead.
I hope you enjoy reading his answers as much as I did putting it together!
May 27 2020:
I have followed this collector for about a decade and have seen his posts on a Canadian website which revealed his extensive knowledge of Canadian currency. Over the past week, with suggestions from Sheldon Pimentel, I asked "Phil Notes" the following questions:
How did you get started collecting banknotes?
ANSWER:
“Sixty years ago, my father brought me back various foreign banknotes for each trip he completed outside of Canada.”
2 ) What type of collector would you consider yourself? Do you collect prefixes, certain series, errors, special serial numbers (only UNC) etc?
ANSWER:
“I am a completist. I want to have a holistic “ONE-of-a-KIND” collection with each type of Error; each Bank of Canada series by denomination; each of the 1954 S/R Test note variations (there are 22) and one of each Chartered Bank series. I have always searched for banknotes that were in Uncirculated or better condition. In 1978, we only had a general concept of "Uncirculated" and nothing more specific. Yet, even back then, I never bought an Uncirculated banknote that was mishandled or had a counting crease. I was unwittingly acquiring exclusive "Gem Uncirculated " notes well before the distinction was acknowledged by Charlton or other catalogues.”
3) How would you describe the current state of the banknote market and the hobby as a whole?
ANSWER:
“I believe that rare and high quality banknotes will always have strong demand. For common less perfect notes the market may be soft. For Frontier (& more recent BOC) series the market is too untested or unchartered territory. But market demand should increase for these more recent series in five to ten years when the younger collectors start to collect and they have been offered for sale.“
4) What are the key principles and guidelines to building a really great collection?
ANSWER:
“I have always advised collectors to aim for rare, high quality banknotes.”
5) How do you feel about Third Party Grading? (Do you collect TPG notes?)
ANSWER:
“I don’t have a choice. In auctions, all notes are TPG. if you know how strict each certifier is you can correctly assess a note’s grade by keeping in mind the standards of each slabbing company. Typically, I trust Banknote Certification Services (BCS) the most and then get more vigilant with the others. I would next consider Paper Money Guarantee (PMG) as second best and CCCS as third in terms of accuracy. Finally, I may consider a note from PCGS but Legacy’s standards are usually too lax.”
6) Can you share 3 banknotes that you consider special? Do you have one that is unique? Can you share how you acquired it?
ANSWER:
“Personally, my favourite acquisition is my two *WA Twenty Dollar 1969 replacements. I have the only two known to exist. Next, is my “French Colonial 3 Livres” card money from 1730. It’s not even listed in the Charlton catalogue. The third would be my 3 Livres Treasury note from 1758. I won this unique piece at an auction against the Bank of Canada museum.”
7) Do you also collect World banknotes?
ANSWER:
“I have a small collection which arose from the notes that my father brought home from his trips abroad as stated in my answer to the first question.”
8) If there was something you could change about the hobby what would it be?
ANSWER:
“I would like to see a unified website were you can post the notes that you want (wish-list) and the notes that you want to sell (for sale list). Actually, I am already registered with 5 different websites in search of specific notes that I want. I typically search about 250 eBay listings per day for the notes I’m missing. I have sent my “wish-list” to 20 different dealers. It’s a lot of work!”
9) Where do you see banknote and numismatics in general 10 years from now?
ANSWER:
“I suspect that the hobby will probably be practiced in a more specialized way. I predict that most collectors will be focussing on the tough rare replacements, test notes, change-overs (etc). Their desire to acquire more special numbers (tougher examples) will continue to climb and put these notes in high demand while the more common stuff will remain cheap & the domain of the coin enthusiast or the occasional dabbler.”
10) What advice would you give to someone entering the hobby?
ANSWER:
“I would suggest what I have been saying for the past 60 years, ‘buy less but buy the best.’”