Pick M5b Japanese Invasion Money Malaya 4 Piece Uncut One Dollar

 An unusual piece of 4 Piece Uncut $1 Japanese Invasion Money aka banana money issued for use in Japanese Occupied Malaya during WW2, consisting of 4 pieces of $1 denomination of various Block Letters, a rather interesting piece of numismatic history.

This piece should be an archival piece meant to be stored in Tokyo as one can see the annotation therein bearing a signature of a bank official together with the its date.

It's made of thick firm paper, with rather strong embossment on the paper surface.

A rather unusual never seen before numismatic paper in the fascinating world of Japanese Invasion Money collecting!

Pick 13b Half Rupee Burma Block BA Japanese Government Uncirculated

 A Half Rupee banknote issued for use during the Japanese Occupation of Burma with the Block Letters of BA and as catalogued as Pick 13b in surprisingly still pristine condition.

However, there is nothing to gloat about  about this tiny piece of obsolete numismatic paper as apparently, lots of these were issued by the Japs, and as everyone knows, the result was the inevitable hyperinflation & the worthlessness of the monetary value of such notes issued, something the Japs should be extremely famous & proud of for such a ''feat'' during WW2.

And one can see lots of this Half Rupee banknote being offered for sale via online sites like eBay, showing how much it must have been printed off the press then.

((For those who have banknotes for sale, please write in with your phone numbers)).

P 1a 1945 Oceania Block Letters OA Half Shilling Japanese Invasion Money PMGed

A rather high grade 1/2 Shilling Japanese Invasion numismatic paper from the so-called now defunct entity called Oceania which looks unmistakebly like a strong EF note but now only graded as a lowly VF 35 by the esteemed numismatic experts, PMG.

But  it's just one of those things whereby an EF note is graded as VF as we are not experts, we are merely small-time, part-time amateur anchovies-in-the-ocean collectors. Would one make noise if a raw note bought as EF and then subsequently graded as AUNC 58 EPQ by PMG?! It's just one of those things, sozusagen.

But the question is why bother getting this all-common lowly JIM note graded, as there is nothing therein gloatable or crow about, esp. gradewise, as most serious numismatic buggers are targetting grades like PMG 68 & above these days, the higher the better? And also the Block Letters of OA is the all-common one as everyone or almost everyone knows OC is the Block Letters that every serious collector desires. Maybe it's one of those "I want to complete the set" things, perhaps...

P.9a 1961 10 Dollars Malaya British Borneo Normal Buffalo Note

A banknote from the days of yore, whose age is much, much older than many so-called 'numismatists' of today but this is just another very common banknote from British Malaya & was issued towards the end of the British Empire in Malaya.

And as what it has been always been, there is nothing to shout about about this note as conditionwise, it's nothing to gloat about as it's only About Very Fine only, almost Very Fine but just not about there yet. 

Gloatable will be its age, which is more than half a century old & may, may this note last a thousand more years in its current state!

And if it carries the Prefix of A/1, then, there is at least a strand of gloat to gloat about as after all, A/1 represents the very First Prefix of this series and apparently, many so-called 'numismatists' of today treasure the First Prefixes as apparently everyone, including so-called 'numismatists' love to be NO.1, love to hog the NO.1 position, sozusagen! Or if one can't get the First Prefix, then, one wouldn't mind settling for the Last Prefix which is B/6, so a Prefix like A/81 which is lost somewhere in the middle is just another very ordinary brick in the wall, si tu comprends ce que je veux dire, tout le monde la-bas. Et toi, la-bas, tous mes lecteurs francophones, tu sais tres bien que je t'aime!

Malaya & British Borneo 1961 $10 Buffalo Note Choice Uncirculated

***What a gorgeous note in Choice Uncirculated condition in the form of this ever-popular & very popularly known Buffalo Note from British Malaya!

Definitely a very fresh looking buffalo rather than the overworked tired-looking ones that one sees so often being offered for sale online.

This banknote actually is the consecutive piece to another one already featured over here a month or two ago.

And this gorgeous note is now on the way to the US so that PMG can do its usual good job by independently and professionally grading this note, & I am very cocksure that this note will come back graded at least with PMG 66 EPQ, no matter how strict PMG grading criteria will be as this is a banknote a few notches up against many others in terms of freshness, sharpness of the corners & the exceptional paper quality..........

Malaya & British Borneo 1961 $10 Choice UNC

***This must be one of the freshest $10 Buffalo Note from British Malaya that I have ever set my eyes on, so fresh as if it just came off Thomas De la Rue's press yesterday!

If this banknote is actually a young lady, I would surely love to be married to her for better or for worse for eternity! If I happen to be already married, then, I would surely take her as my wife NO.2 or push comes to shove, I will have her as my mistress.

Very sharp corners, very, very crisp white paper and extremely sharp fresh colors with no signs of ageing.

If this note were to be sent to PMG to be officially graded, I will not be surprised if it were to be returned as PMG UNC 67.

But, then, I better not be so cocksure, esp, after the recent incident whereby my Malaysian $500 UNC note was returned as only a mere PMG AUNC 58, something not very surprising due to the very high benchmark set by those American folks at PMG, I suppose.

Malaya & British Borneo 1961 $10 Big A Buffalo Banknote

***Another piece of the ever-popular Buffalo banknote & this nice, crisp EF-like piece bears the Big A Prefix of A/97. Wish it was A/99 which would represent the Last Prefix of this series. But, somehow one moron said that the Last Prefix for this series is A/100. Somebody must be a real moron here. It must be him, not me.

This is a very piece of fresh, firm note, very EF-ish but to overgraders, which there is an abundance of them everywhere, both online & offline, this note could be AU-ish for them.

Lately, lots of the Small A varieties of this Buffalo Note series have surfaced online. Most were graded as VF by the various Vendors from many corners of the globe, but these Buffaloes just look too tired to even squeeze in into the Fine category. Simply put, they are just VG or worse still, lower. But of course the Vendors do not know how to grade notes as the only word found in their numismatic grading vocab seems to be VF.

Wonder not & ask me not where I got hold of this note as the story is just too long to be narrated here.

Malaya 1961 $10 Big A Buffalo Banknote

***This is another banknote that I have managed to recently acquire from Mr Dollah from the infamous Shah Alam's Pasar Pagi (Morning Market/Bazaar).

A very nice banknote with very firm & crisp exceptional paper quality.

A note that I would grade as a Good VF but of course, many parties who love overgrading banknotes as hobby would gleefully grade this note as "About EF" or even an EF.

And who knows this note might be even graded as an AU50 by PMG as after all, it seems to be en vogue nowadays to get banknotes "slabbed" so as to 'create value.'

I bought this banknote from Dollah at a freaking good price of just RM365, after as usual some haggling.

How he can sell this cheap to me is a question I wish not pose to him?

Maybe he thought this is the Small A variety or maybe he bought this note many donkey years ago for just RM150, who knows.

Or maybe the act by yours truly to share a few sticks of kretek with him made him do the fraternal unthinkable thing, I know not.

In fact, he has 2 more pieces of the Smaller A variety Buffalo notes for sale in his album, only asking for a mere RM200 each. But I let them pass as in the first place, these are very tired looking Buffalo notes and secondly, I am not the type who will grab/buy everything no matter how cheap they are on offer for I practise the 1 million-yr-old Confucian philosophy of leaving some for the next bloke, if you know what I mean.

Maybe these 2 notes are still with Dollah if you were to pay him a visit these few days.

Malaya And British Borneo 1953 Queen Elizabeth $1,000

***An obviously the rarest piece of banknote from the stable of the Malaya And British Borneo series bearing the vignette of a young and attractive looking Queen Elizabeth II in the form of the $1,000 banknote dated 1953.
It has been rumored that there are less than 20 pieces of this note in existence and as such, whoever has this note in his collection, it would be a collection that there is a reason to gloat about and to be envied.
And it's suspected that only less than 6 pieces of this banknote are in the hands of collectors in Malaysia.
Lets hail the collector who is having this note in his collection for he has the last highest denomination circulated Malaya British banknote which has the QE II's vignette on it!
And I wonder how many collectors who have actually seen how this note looks like in terms of color, design and size other than what they have seen thru the various numismatic catalogues?!

Malaya 1961 Small A Buffalo Note

***The note featured today must be among the most popular banknote from British Malaya that collectors love to collect, including collectors from outside Malaysia, going to those as far as North America and Europe.

This common Small A Buffalo Note is also, unfortunately, one of the most popular banknotes to be a favorite for chemically washing and subsequent pressing by now all-too-well-known parties, who, then, sell such lower grade notes that had been chemically processed as AU or UNC grades, esp. on the net, or even at this as you read this.

Most naive new collectors won't hesitate to grab such "AU/UNC" banknotes being sold on the net, usually at 'bargain' prices, only realising 6 months down the road that what they have bought being merely trash.

And it's quite hard to advise new collectors from grabbing such 'bargains' on the net as they often perceived that we, the 'advisors', as trying to dissuade them from buying such 'bargains' with an ulterior motive.

To all you folks out there, if you can buy a UNC piece of the note featured today at US$300 or so, that means the note you have bought was actually VF the most but had been chemically cleaned, pressed & sealed in a plastic folder (to prevent you from feeling the lifeless thin piece of crap).

Sellers are not morons to sell you this piece of note in UNC grade at US$300 or so!

Malaya 1953 $100 Banknote Queen Elizabeth II Original Fine

***This $100 banknote dated 1953 must be one of the two 'Mother of All Banknotes' from the Malaya & British Borneo series, due to its scarcity in Original Unwashed, Unpressed or Untampered in-any-way condition.

An Original Uncirculated copy is, apparently, commanding a price of US$10,000 or even more; very much higher than as catalogued, especially, when one takes a peep at the laughable Krause reference!

A good reason why it is tagged with such a high price is because, basically, original UNC copies do not exist. The best one could get hold of might be a Good EF or an AUNC piece.

But I am skeptical even in the existence of an Original AUNC piece. In spite of that, so-called AUNC pieces are being offered online for sale at, of course, ridiculous sky-rocket prices & if such pieces are, indeed, Original AUNC, why would the vendors not offer them to be auctioned off at huge auction houses downsouth in Singapore, where big players will be present and such copies could bring-in very much higher prices!?!

Very plausible guess being most of these notes are low grade notes that have been chemically Washed & then, pressed flat, yielding a very thin piece of discolored, flat trash, with its embossment totally wiped off!

The note featured here today is in Original Fine condition, with all margins intact, no tears & no holes, but with grime & all signs of circulation on it. But, isn't that how a 55-year-old circulated banknote should look like?!!!
***Not For Sale At The Moment***

Malaya 1961 $10 Buffalo Note 'B' Prefix Last Prefix Original F

***A rather rare banknote from Malaya & British Borneo dated 1961 in the form of the infamous Buffalo Banknote but which bears the 'B' Prefix & with the Last Prefix of B/6 in Original Fine Condition.

The only reason for this issue to be considered as being 'rare in any condition' must be due to the fact that only 6 Prefixes were issued, compared to the earlier Small 'A' & Big 'A' issues.

Importantly, the piece displayed here is Original, with all its imperfections caused from general circulation shown here.

'Original' means it has not been chemically washed or tampered to 'enhance' its look, as is now commonly practised.

Price = US$950

Malaya 1961 $10 Buffalo Note 'B' Prefix Original VF

*** Malaya 1961 $10 Buffalo Note with the scarce 'B' Prefix. Original fresh note. Not Washed, Not Pressed.

Price = US$1,600

Malaya 1953 $10 QEII PMG Gem UNC65 EPQ

*** PMG GEM UNC 65 (EPQ)

Price = US$500
****SOLD****

Malaya 1953 $10 QEII PMG AU55

*** PMG AU55

Price = US$315

Malaya 1953 $10 QEII Good EF/AU

*** Original Crisp Good EF/AU(Most sold are Washed & Pressed)

Price = US$200

Malaya 1953 $50 QEII VF

Price = US$280

Malaya 1953 $50 QEII About VF

Price = US$240

Malaya 1961 $10 Buffalo Note 'Big B' Good Fine

***'Big B' - Good Fine

Price = US$930

Malaya 1961 $10 Buffalo Note 'Big A' Good VF/AEF

***'Big A' - Good VF/About EF

Price= US$640