I am travelling right now, and have been for a while. I am in South America, and mostly in Bolivia. I have been keeping my eyes open for paper money, ofcourse, and have even spent the majority of this day attempting to track down some old banknotes, as well as some new uncirculated issues. I have some news on both accounts …

Of the antique variety, I have only been able to find the 1, 5, 10, and 20 peso banknotes from 1911 and 1928 (same as 1911, but with an overprint). Locally, these are selling for about 3-5 USD for notes in G condition. They 50 and 100 peso notes are nowhere to be found! So, if you see one on eBay for $15 or less, it might be a great investment.

As per the new notes, it gets quite silly. I actually made my way to the Central Bank of Boliva in La Paz today. I spoke with cashiers and some higher-ups as well, and all they could get for me, in UNC condition, were 10 Boliviano notes, which are the lowest local denomination. The CENTRAL BANK did not have any new notes to offer! What a scandal. Then I asked about Brazilian Reales, and we sent to the Banco de Brasil in La Paz, HQ for Brazilian banking in Bolivia and — wait for it — wait for it — they did not have ANY Brazilian money. Wow. Seriously, I am speechless.

I went to some money exchange places (Casas de Cambio), which always deal in US dollars, Bolivian Bolivianos, Chilean Pesos, Argentinian Pesos, and Peruvian Soles and spent one hour in one line, only to find out they did not have any UNC or AUNC notes (either that or they did not want to look too hard). So I went to a second exchange office, stood in line for 20 minutes, then left (if you are going to have 6 registers, why do you have only 1 cashier???).

Sadly, I do not know how much more time I am willing to spend looking for banknotes instead of vacationing. Makes those eBay auctions with a 50% markup seem like a good deal.

Anyways, that is the latest.

PS – clearly, while I am away, RealBanknotes.com is not being worked on. Delays delays, but it will be magnificent when the new version is up and running. Cheers, and thanks for visiting.