Foreign money collecting areas

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One of the greatest aspects about foreign money is that you can collect bills from any areas you wish. Here are just some of the many possibilities:

Worldwide
At least one bill from every available country. There are about 200 different countries that bills can still be obtained from, for a reasonable amount of money. A few of these countries no longer exist, while others have changed their official names (some more than once).

Many folks start collecting a minimum of one bill from each country that appears on an updated political World map. In this method, the exceptions would only be the nations that, for one reason or another, do not print their own currency bills. Notable among such countries is the Republic of Panama, an independent, sovereign nation that uses the American dollar as the only valid type of bill.

Collecting one currency example from each country is a hugely popular way to enjoy the hobby of foreign money.

One or more countries
Examples of popular collecting countries are Argentina, Brazil, China and Mexico, just to name a few. You can also collect the country or countries that you always wanted to visit, or have already visited.

A zone or region
Latin America, Africa, Europe, South Pacific, Caribbean, Scandinavia, Baltic States, or the Middle East, among many others.

Countries linked by a common history, language or destiny
British Commonwealth: Australia, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Singapore, etc.
French Community: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Togo, and others.
Portugal and former colonies: Angola, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Macao, Mozambique.
Netherlands and former colonies: Aruba, Indonesia, Netherlands Antilles, Netherlands, South Africa.
European Union: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.
Former Yugoslav States: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Krajina, Macedonia, Serbia & Montenegro, Serbian Republic, Slovenia.
Former Soviet Republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia, Tajikistan, Transnistria, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

By theme or themes
Bills featuring: Maps, flags, icons, boats, trains, airplanes, bridges, scenery, flowers, birds, marine life, mammals, allegorical figures, art, opera, classical music, native music, women, writers, poets, artists, scientists, presidents, royalty, and the list goes on.

By denomination
A popular specialty theme is high denomination currency, say, 10,000 and up. Also, on the other end of the spectrum, there are those who focus just on a particular denomination. They may like ones only, or twos only, or fives only, etc. There are even collectors who seek odd denominations like one-quarter (1/4), 3, 25, 40, 200, and so on.

By dates of issue
Another fascinating criterion for collecting foreign money is date of issue. This is the date on the bill itself, which indicates the day the law officially granted legal tender status to a particular currency printing. Sometimes, this date appears as the serial date, which often corresponds with a specific signature (or signatures) of government officials, usually the nation's treasurer, the treasurer's secretary, the governor, the president, and/or the minister of finance. In American money, when at least one of two signature changes, the series year is updated, or a letter suffix is added, like this: Series 1957B (letter B suffix), Series 2003 (no suffix), Series 2003A (letter A suffix), and so on.

Collecting currency by including date of issue can be an important factor when focusing on certain countries. There are many instances in which each new series of the same design reflect small changes in color, hue, layout, and other characteristics. Side by side, bills with different issuing dates can often show subtle, yet fascinating, changes in the monetary history of a country.

Note: Some bills do not have dates of issue reflected on them. However, the dates of issue are usually known, from official government records. In those cases, the years of issue are indicated on reference materials.

By personal preference
Some collectors simply obtain the bills that appeal to them for one reason or another. Some make their selections based on certain color combinations, or for their overall eye appeal. Most of the time, though, you may find that there is no reason for picking up items for your collection, other than beauty. Still, the possibilities are limitless. You can put your imagination to work, and build your personal collection based exclusively on your individual taste.




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