Introduction

Chinese reading guide follows in translation mode. Complete source text or the original reference chart is retained below.

Welcome to this 15th edition of the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, General Issues.

For those of you already familiar with this volume, we have continued to enhace our image quality and expand our descriptions. Numerous additions have been made to the variety listings as new information becomes available. Extensive specimen variety listings continue to be added throughout.

This volume presents bank notes issued by governments, national banks or the few regional banks which circulated over a large area. Companion volumes to this edition are the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Specialized Issues which covers bank notes issued on a regional and local level in addition to military and foreign exchange issues and the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Modern Issues – 1961 to present which lists bank notes of a national scope dated since 1961.

For the ease of identifi cation, notes are listed under their historic country identifi cation (British Honduras is no longer hidden within Belize). North Korea and South Korea are now under N and S respectively, not under K. Northern Ireland is under N. If you have a concern, please consult the country or bank issuer index.

Notes of a particular bank are listed in release date order, and then grouped in ascending denomination order. In the cases of countries where more than one issuing authority is in effect at a single time, follow the bank headings in the listings and it will become apparent if that country’s listing is by date or alphabetical by issuing authority. In the cases where a country had changed from a kingdom to a republic all the banknotes of the kingdom’s era would be listed before that of the republic. Please use the extensive Bank Note Issuer Index in the introduction area of this book startng on page 8.

If you wish to contribute images, please contact us first and follow the guidelines as set forth in the information notices placed throughout the book. We can accept them as JPGs, and preferably on a disc, rather than as an email attachment. My email address is george.cuhaj@fwcommunity.com.

An Invitation

Users of this catalog may find a helpful adjunct to be the Bank Note Reporter, the only monthly newspaper devoted exclusively to North American and world paper money. Each issue presents up-todate news, feature articles and valuable information. All purchasers of this catalog are invited to subscribe to the Bank Note Reporter. See www.ShopNumismaster.com.

A review of modern paper money collecting

Paper money collecting is probably as old as paper money itself. However, this segment of the numismatic hobby did not begin to reach a popularity approaching that of coin collecting until the latter half of the 1970’s. While coins and paper money are alike in that both served as legal obligations to facilitate commerce, long-time paper money enthusiasts know the similarity ends there.

Coins were historically guaranteed by the intrinsic value of their metallic content - at least until recent years when virtually all circulating coins have become little more than legal tender tokens, containing little or no precious metal - while paper money possesses a value only when it is accepted for debts or converted into bullion or precious metals. With many note issues, this conversion privilege was limited and ultimately negated by the imposition of redemption cutoff dates.

The development of widespread collector interest in paper money of most nations was inhibited by a near total absence of adequate documentation. No more than four decades ago collectors could refer to only a few catalogs and dealer price lists of limited scope, most of which were diffi cult to acquire, or they could build their own knowledge through personal collecting pursuits and contact with fellow collectors.

The early catalogs authored by Albert Pick chronicled issues of Europe and the Americas and were assembled as stepping-stones to the ultimate objective, which became reality with publication of the first Standard Catalog of World Paper Money in 1975. That work provided collectors with fairly complete listings and up-todate valuations of all recorded government note issues of the 20th century, incorporating Pick’s previously unpublished manuscripts on Africa, Asia and Oceania, plus many earlier issues.

The completely revised and updated 21th Edition of Volume III, Modern Issues, along with this companion 15th Edition Volume II General Issues, presents a substantial extension of the cataloging effort initiated in 1975 and revised in succeeding editions. As the most comprehensive world paper money references ever assembled, they fully document the many and varied legal tender paper currencies issued and circulated by over 380 past and current government issuing authorities of the world from 1360’s to present.

Falling within the scope of the Specialized Issues volume are all state, local, municipal and company issues which circulated under auspices of recognized regional governments ands and their banking agents - thus notes which enjoyed limited circulation in their respective countries. Exceptions are the multitudinous notes of the German states and cities, especially those of the World War I and postwar period to 1923, and the vast category of Chinese local issues and similar limited-circulation issues of other countries.

George S. Cuhaj

Editor