News & Notes Volume XI, No. 28

December 23, 2025

 From the Internet Bookshelf

  Some Holiday Themes

• The Many Faces of Santa Claus and A Very Festive Bank Title From New York (Stack's Bowers).  Both from 2025.
• Collection Inspiration: Angels (PMG). From 2025.
• Santa Claus on Banknotes (Numismatic News). From 2023.
• What Would Christmas Be Without Christmas Trees? (Geldscheine-online, in German). From 2023.
• The Christmas Truce & St. Nicholas Bank Notes (American Numismatic Association). From 2021.
• Christmas Notgeld from Thuringia, 1921 (Geldscheine-online, in German). From 2021.
• Collection Inspiration: Churches (PMG). From 2020.
• Paper Money Depicting Jesus (E-Sylum). From 2020.
• The Kris Kringle Currency Collection (PMG). From 2013.
• The Festival of Christmas as Depicted on World Paper Money (Paper Money). Pdf at link. From 2007.
• Christmas Club Checks (Paper Money). Pdf at link. From 1991.
• Christmas-Themed Notgeld (Banknote Den).
• The First National Bank of Indiana, PA,  (Charter 313), "Christmas Tree Capital of the World" (Bank Note History).

Currency Coming and Going

• Nepal's disputed banknote (The Hindu).
• Russian-issued propaganda notes with QR codes (Moct).
• 100,000 euros found in French waste-sorting machine (Seneweb).
• Hamas's affinity for worn banknotes (Asharq Al-Awsat).
• A Short Snorter with a Powerful Story (Contact).
• Claims about the BRIC's "Unit" (The Conversation).
• Banknotes flutter down from Hong Kong housing estate (the Standard).
• Plans for King Charles on Cayman currency (Cayman Compass).
• Cuba may designate foreign banknotes as legal tender (MRI Bankers' Guide).
• Trinidad and Tobago's currency to retain the old coat of arms (MRI Bankers' Guide).

The Business of Collecting

• Hugh Shull has passed away (Barr-Price Funeral Home).
• Qatar banknote series sells at Noonans (Numismatic News).
• Note of the Month: Canada 50 Dollars (PMG).
• Free book: Banknotes of Bhutan (E-Sylum). Pdf can be downloaded at link provided.
• Strong results from Stack's Hong Kong auction (Stack's Bowers).
• "Squatter" paper money of Nebraska, 1857-1863 (Geldscheine-online, in German).
• Heritage offers high denomination notes in January 2026 sale (PMG).
• Stack's offers Palestinian Currency Board note (PMG).
• Test notes featuring composer Maurice Ravel (Banknote World).
• French banknote honoring Hector Berlioz (Banknote World).
• Noonans offers Syrian and Lebanese banknotes at its Ibrahim Salem sale (PMG).
• A rare North Borneo note at auction (PMG).
• A look back at the Bulgarian lev (PMG).

New Banknote Issues

• Morocco celebrates African Cup of Nations (TRT Afrika). And here (MRI Bankers' Guide).
• Oman's polymer 1 rial note (Current Affairs). And here (MRI Bankers' Guide).
• Fiji's new polymer series (Coin World).
• What's New in Banknotes: December 2025 (Numismatic News).
• Seychelles issues a "modified" 500 rupee banknote (MRI Bankers' Guide).

Local Coin/Numismatic Shows Happening this Week

     Multi-Day Shows​

None

                    (Always call ahead to confirm)

      December 28

• San Fernando, CA; Greenacres, FL; Peotone, IL; North Attleboro, MA; Livonia, MI; Melville, NY
  Cincinnati, OH; Trevose, PA
   

Upcoming Online Currency Auctions

• The Woking Collection of U.S. Banknotes, December 28 (Great Collections).
• The Surrey Collection of Fancy Serial Numbers, December 28 (Great Collections).
• Lyn Knight Auction, December 30 (Lyn Knight).
• CGB Live Auction, January 6 (CGB Numismatique).
• Heritage FUN U.S. Currency Auction, January 13-16 (HA).
• Stack's January 2026 World Showcase Auction, Session A, January 16 (Stack's Bowers).
• Stack's January 2026 World Showcase Auction, Session B, January 17 (Stack's Bowers).
• Stack's January 2026 World Showcase Auction, Session C, January 20 (Stack's Bowers).
• Stack's January 2026 World Showcase Auction, Session D, January 21 (Stack's Bowers).
• The Ibrahim Salem Collection of Syria and Lebanon, February 12 (Noonans Mayfair).

Major Coin and Currency Shows

• 71st FUN Show, Orlando, FL, January 8-11, 2026 (FUN).
• 54th NYINC, New York City, January 16-18, 2026 (NYINC).
• ANA's National Money Show, Savannah, GA, February 26-28, 2026 (ANA).

Banknote, Security Printing, and Cash Management Industries

Upcoming Industry Conferences

• High Security Printing -EMEA, Rabat, Morocco, March 2-4, 2026 (Reconnaissance).
• High Security Printing-Latin America, Guatemala City, Guatemala, June 1-3, 2026 (Reconnaissance).
• Security Designers Forum, Istanbul, Turkey, September 7-10. 2026 (Security Designers Form).

From the Annals of Crime

• Jail time for Scottish banknote forger (BBC).
• Korea's banknote strap investigation (Yonhap News Agency).
• Korean forger acquitted after eighty years (Chosun Biz).
• Scamming crypto traders with counterfeit cash (Yahoo News).
• Counterfeit Detection: Philippines 1917 Emergency Issues (PMG).

Websites to Like 

(in no particular order)

• Paper Money Forum (Numismatic discussion threads)
• Newman Numismatic Portal (Digital numismatic library)
• Numismatic Bibliomania Society (Includes E-Sylum, the weekly online complement to the NBS's journal, The Asylum)
• The American Revenue Association (Hobby website).
• The Souvenir Card Collectors Society
• New York Toll Script and Tokens (Collector website)..
• The American Historical Print Collectors Society (Hobby website).
• International Bank Note Society (useful features even for non-members).
• The Banknote Den (David Lok's website, with superb essays as well as a link to his book, The Many Faces of Money).
• The Higgins Museum (the one in Okoboji, IA, not Worcester, MA)
• Cigar History Museum's coupon gallery
• Boordgeld (Dutch ships' money)
• Depression Scrip (emergency money of the 1930s, and more)
• Wisconsin Depression Scrip
• Caishen's Temple-Asia Money
• Elkader Auction House
• Minnesota Nice
• The Currency Collector (more good essays by John Sandrock).
• COINWeek (numismatic aggregator with some paper money content).
• MRI Bankers' Guide (for its updates of new banknotes).
• Mujand (fantasy banknote maker).
• Alternative Banknotes and Coins (Alternatehistory). Fantasy thread.
• Stane Straus's Polymer Banknotes of the World
• Banknote News (roundup of news and promotional website for The Banknote Book).
• Mintage World (online museum of Indian numismatics).
• Chattanooga Money (site details historical episodes in Chattanooga, Tennessee's monetary and banking history)
• My Georgia Collection (collector site devoted to "Georgia State Notes, Obsolete Currency, Bonds, and Alternative Scrip")
• Banknotesworld ("THE German-language Banknote forum") Discussion threads and more.
• Scotsbanknotes
• Cash Essentials (Industry website devoted to promoting cash usage).
• Kuster's Engineering (Company website). Your expert in currency disintegration.
• PYMNTS.com (Industry website).
• Currency Research (Industry website).
• International Association of Currency Affairs (Industry website).
• De La Rue (Company website).
• Giesecke & Devrient (Company website).
• Our Passports (travel documents and other ephemera)
• Social Money (a Flickr album of photographs illustrating modern complementary currencies, heavy on Argentina).
• Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (search for banknotes etc.).
• Where's George? (currency tracking project).
• Banknoter
• Numismondo
• CoinsWeekly, numismatic website run by Ursula Kampmann. German-language version is here. Content is not identical.
• Blog du CNA (Club Numismatique  d'Argenteuil)
• AFEP   Association Française pour l'Étude du Papier-monnaie
• Monnaies Locales Complementaires
• Our Money (Eurozone currency).
• The Ephemera Society of America (Hobby website, with archived articles on ephemera topics)
• A Library of Scrip and Local Currency
• Fictional currency galleries (Deviant Art).
• Pakistani Currency