1) What exactly are “Specialized Issues?”
According to the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Specialized Issues (© 2005 KP Books), these banknotes are “all state, local, municipal, and company issues which circulated under auspices of recognized regional governments and their banking agents – thus notes which enjoyed limited circulation in their respective countries.” We would add to this notes which were issued during times of war or revolution in a particular country, commonly called revolutionary or siege notes. Put simply, these are the many banknote issues that did not come (generally speaking) from a central government or central bank. Many specialized issues are extremely scarce and are only known in proof or specimen form.
2) Why collect Specialized Issues?
In our opinion, the best aspect of specialized issues is that they document the early economic history of many countries and regions. Through study of these notes, one can learn very much about the fiscal reality of a country in its infancy. Specialized issue notes are also a great precursor to the global economy we take for granted today. You can see the influence of colonial powers, i.e. English banks in Latin America and a bank from almost every European country in China!
On a practical collector level, these banknotes offer the best rarity to value ratio to be found in numismatics. As stated above, many specialized issues are extremely scarce are only known in proof or specimen form, with many of the issued notes found only in lower grades. At the same time, these notes remain relatively affordable when compared to United States paper money and United States coins of similar rarity.
Also, the collecting of world specialized issue banknotes is relatively new on a large scale (a little over 30 years old), so there is still much research to be done and new discoveries to be made. That should excite the detective and treasure hunter in all of us!
3) Do you only sell Specialized Issue banknotes?
Yes, on our website you will only find banknotes from the SCWPM Specialized Issues catalog, in addition to other private and obsolete notes not found in that work. Occasionally we acquire other banknotes and coins in collections or lot that we purchase. These items can be found through our Ebay sales. Our seller name is specializedcurrency.
4) Will you buy my banknotes?
Of course! We will happily review any specialized issue banknotes you have for sale and provide you with a fair offer to purchase. Please see our Contact Us page for information.
5) Do you accept trades for banknotes?
We will accept trades for banknotes from our inventory in certain instances. Although it is a case-by-case basis, we accept most gold and silver bullion, coin silver, United States and World gold coins, and occasionally other banknotes. Please contact us for details.
6) Why do you have a category for Sold Banknotes?
We keep all of the banknotes that have sold in the recent past up on our website for two fundamental reasons. The first reason is as a service to our clients: because we try to put a good amount of information in the descriptions of each note that we sell, the customer can come back to our site after purchase to record the information if they did not do so at the time of purchase. The second reason is if a collector sees a note he or she is looking for in our sold items list, we can try and procure another example for that person if possible.
7) Do you accept consignment sales?
Yes, whether you are a dealer or a collector with better Specialized Issue banknotes for sale we will accept a limited number of your banknotes and post them on our site. We will do the imaging, attribution, and verbal description of the note. Our commission is 20% of the sale price, shipping excluded. Contact us for details.