$ Zimbabwe Currency - Specifically the hyperinflated discontinued ones.

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Question is which would be cheaper to burn coal or Zimbabwean dollars? Got to get feed community oil barrel something.
 
I remember seeing a YouTube video a long time from one of those "investment gurus" (the same kind that would have been telling people to buy silver back during the peak of the bubble) who was saying that Zimbabwean Currency would be a great long term investment. This was after the Zimbabwean dollar had been abandoned, but it was the absolute bottom of the market. $100T notes were still like $3 USD. He had a bizarre and convoluted theory that at some point the Zimbabwean dollar would be remonetized, possibly parity with the USD, making every ZWL holder an Über-gazillionaire or some such nonsense. He was talking about it like it was some sort of secret that only he had discovered. Of course everyone was clowning him in the comments, but in a sense he was right. He had this massive stack of large-denomination Zimbabwean currency, that he probably only paid a couple thousand for, but it'd be worth millions today. That's just because Zimbabwean currency has become something of a collector's curiosity, but a profit's a profit.

On a separate note, when I used to take archery my instructor always used to tell new students he'd give them "10,000 dollars" if they managed to hit a bullseye on their first day. Of course he'd fail to mention that he'd be giving them $10,000ZWL, at the time worth about 3 cents. On occasion, one of them would, and they'd mostly be confused at the weird African banknote they were handed. Usually they'd take it in stride once the joke was explained to them, while the students like me who had been around for a while would be standing in the background laughing our asses off.
 
Ged! said:
I remember seeing a YouTube video a long time from one of those "investment gurus" (the same kind that would have been telling people to buy silver back during the peak of the bubble) who was saying that Zimbabwean Currency would be a great long term investment. This was after the Zimbabwean dollar had been abandoned, but it was the absolute bottom of the market. $100T notes were still like $3 USD. He had a bizarre and convoluted theory that at some point the Zimbabwean dollar would be remonetized, possibly parity with the USD, making every ZWL holder an Über-gazillionaire or some such nonsense. He was talking about it like it was some sort of secret that only he had discovered. Of course everyone was clowning him in the comments, but in a sense he was right. He had this massive stack of large-denomination Zimbabwean currency, that he probably only paid a couple thousand for, but it'd be worth millions today. That's just because Zimbabwean currency has become something of a collector's curiosity, but a profit's a profit.

On a separate note, when I used to take archery my instructor always used to tell new students he'd give them "10,000 dollars" if they managed to hit a bullseye on their first day. Of course he'd fail to mention that he'd be giving them $10,000ZWL, at the time worth about 3 cents. On occasion, one of them would, and they'd mostly be confused at the weird African banknote they were handed. Usually they'd take it in stride once the joke was explained to them, while the students like me who had been around for a while would be standing in the background laughing our asses off.
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I only think in an extremely absurd kind of timeframe would a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar be worth 100 Trillion USD (Not in an ironic sense where Joe Biden's Inflation would make the US currency worthless that they'll be printing funny hyperinflated notes themselves). But yeah, Zimbabwe Currency has been getting more expensive over the years. I literally had to pay hundreds of dollars for a 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar. Imagine sooner or later it may be worth 100 times it's current value again. Edit: The order was returned because they encountered something wrong with it. (The pack may be missing some bills) so I'm getting my money back. I'm not gonna retry this until I get back from Japan.
 
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Some of these old zimdollars are becoming collectors' items now.

The 10¹⁴ note (hundred trillion) was the highest denomination in general circulation in any of the 3 currency issues that experienced hyperinflation(they basically devalued and issued new note designs 3 times), so it's not surprising that it's starting to attract the attention of numismaticists.

There was a 10¹⁵ (One Thousand Trillion) dollar note printed which was the last of that particular run of notes. They are very rare because the mint ran out of paper while printing them. Most of them were appropriated by employees in lieu of owed back pay when the mint closed. (I'm also pretty sure that most of them were used for rolling cigarettes - they had actual utility for this and had less value than newspaper did)

One of these is in a museum (can't remember which one) as it is of historical interest. Jonathan Moyo (who was in charge of the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank at the time) stuck one on the door of the building and wrote a combined resignation letter and announcement of the mint's closure on it. (Something like "By the powers vested in my position, I hereby order the closure of this institution. No further currency will be issued. This has become farcical")

Moyo joined the (then banned) MDC opposition as soon as he had crossed the South African border and got political asylum. He is now a MP and minister of something or other after the MDC and ZANU merged.

Needless to say, things are even worse under the current PM, who Zimbabwean refugees call "Emerson Fuckface", than they were beforehand.

Financial transactions for most people are mostly done in cash. Vendors basically take any currency (money from neighbouring countries, USD, Euro, even Rubles or Yuan and convert them using spreadsheets to the currency the vendor prefers. Many will also take prepaid airtime (this is quite common in central and sub-saharan Africa, as there is a way to cash it out.)

The Hungarian note shown earlier on is actually more impressive in worthlessness for the amount depicted than the Zimbabwe money.

Zimbabwe uses US terminology for large numbers. Hungary uses the European system.

US billion = 1 000 000 000 (10⁹)
European billion = 1 000 000 000 000 (10¹²).

I think they used writing only because to write the number out and use the same amount of paper would make the note look like a stretch of ticker tape.
 
Cyberpunk Panatela said:
Some of these old zimdollars are becoming collectors' items now.

The 10¹⁴ note (hundred trillion) was the highest denomination in general circulation in any of the 3 currency issues that experienced hyperinflation(they basically devalued and issued new note designs 3 times), so it's not surprising that it's starting to attract the attention of numismaticists.

There was a 10¹⁵ (One Thousand Trillion) dollar note printed which was the last of that particular run of notes. They are very rare because the mint ran out of paper while printing them. Most of them were appropriated by employees in lieu of owed back pay when the mint closed. (I'm also pretty sure that most of them were used for rolling cigarettes - they had actual utility for this and had less value than newspaper did)

One of these is in a museum (can't remember which one) as it is of historical interest. Jonathan Moyo (who was in charge of the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank at the time) stuck one on the door of the building and wrote a combined resignation letter and announcement of the mint's closure on it. (Something like "By the powers vested in my position, I hereby order the closure of this institution. No further currency will be issued. This has become farcical")

Moyo joined the (then banned) MDC opposition as soon as he had crossed the South African border and got political asylum. He is now a MP and minister of something or other after the MDC and ZANU merged.

Needless to say, things are even worse under the current PM, who Zimbabwean refugees call "Emerson Fuckface", than they were beforehand.

Financial transactions for most people are mostly done in cash. Vendors basically take any currency (money from neighbouring countries, USD, Euro, even Rubles or Yuan and convert them using spreadsheets to the currency the vendor prefers. Many will also take prepaid airtime (this is quite common in central and sub-saharan Africa, as there is a way to cash it out.)

The Hungarian note shown earlier on is actually more impressive in worthlessness for the amount depicted than the Zimbabwe money.

Zimbabwe uses US terminology for large numbers. Hungary uses the European system.

US billion = 1 000 000 000 (10⁹)
European billion = 1 000 000 000 000 (10¹²).

I think they used writing only because to write the number out and use the same amount of paper would make the note look like a stretch of ticker tape.
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I'm still waiting for the 100 Trillion Dollars and the 5 Maldivian Rufiya because Amazon orders are inconsistent and Weird while Ebay Orders with 100 Trillions, where I got the 20 Trillion Dollar Note from shipped real fast. But 1 thousand Trillion Dollars? Is this some absurd urban legend like Saki Sanobashi/Go For A Punch? I cannot even find a picture of that said bill. Why would it be called that if they could just call it 1 Quadrillion? Using that bill as cigarettes, they must've wasted a potential rare treasure. Where did you even hear about that story of the 1 Thousand Trillion bill? I'd have better luck inflating the Roblox economy than finding that bill. I am gonna go with the assumption that the bill is fake until you give me a source proving its existence.

I also own a 1 Milliard Pengo bill from Hungary which is 1 Billion. But I don't know if it's a real one since it's so old before useful innovations of anti counterfeiting measures.
 
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@Lunar Eclipse Paradox

I've seen one of those thousand million Zimbabwe dollar notes which a pharmacist I know had. He bought it for 5 ZAR of a Zimbabwean. (This was about 0.5 USD at the time and far more than it was worth). This guy had a lot of inflation money which he sold long ago.

I just checked this with him and it was apparently a marked up 100 trillion, not a new design note (They did this often because of the insane rate of the inflation - put the money they just printed back in the printer and put a higher denomination on it).

Your best chance of seeing one would be if you can locate the "resignation letter" one's newspaper picture. (The note itself is in the government museum in Harare and not on display. This is probably because there is presently a ridiculous attempt to rehabilitate the public image of Robert Mugabe by certain politicians there. No, I don't know why.).

I tried getting that picture for my previous post. It was in either the Johannesburg  Star or the Sunday Times. These two newspapers now belong to a huge corporation called eNCA. Their site doesn't contain pre-merger articles. Searching Archive.org didn't help me, but you're welcome to try.

I don't know much about collecting hyperinflation money. If forgery is a concern then I'd keep away from that kind of altered note - common sense tells me that this would be the easiest to fake.

As for smoking the money:

When you are getting paid during hyperinflation, the best strategy to survive is to convert cash to anything else, preferably something that will hold value.

Tobacco and cigarettes are insanely cheap in Zim. In South Africa they are very expensive due to excise duties. Also, some practices such as nicotine-spiking are forbidden south of the border and common north of the border. Cigarettes were a good investment in Zimbabwe as they were a guaranteed source of forex, as well as a way for prospective illegal immigrants going south to get some starting capital.

In most of Africa only rich smokers use premade cigarettes. The rest buy cheap pipe tobacco and roll their own. When banknotes are worth less than the lowest grade of paper, which would you use for your cigarette?

Also, if you suggested to anyone back then that his "money" would have considerable value in the future, he would have laughed in your face.

Sorry, didn't intend that this reply would turn into an African Culture lecture.

Now I have to go find out who the fuck Saki Sanobashi is in the hope of lulz.
 
Male Idiot said:
This goes for 10 dollars.
www.banknoteworld.org

Hungary 100 Million B. Pengo, 1946, P-136

Hungary 100 Million B. Pengo, 1946, P-136
www.banknoteworld.org www.banknoteworld.org

www.banknoteworld.com

Hungary 100 Million B.- Pengo Banknote, 1946, P-136, UNC, TAP 60-70 Authenticated

Hungary 100 Million B.- Pengo Banknote, 1946, P-136, UNC, TAP 60-70 Authenticated
www.banknoteworld.com www.banknoteworld.com
But this site says its 1500 dollars.

100 million billiard zingers. That's 100 quintillion in American measurements.

Get cucked nignogs, Hungary inflation is stronkest!

As to what causes such inflation, the answer is communism. The forint was converted with a value of 200 octillion pengos.
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The 100 Million B pengo sold for thousands is in pristine high graded condition and/or is a rare kind of bill with an interesting serial. I find many well preserved bills being sold for a very high price, you'll find some of those with Zimbabwe bills too.
 
Glowie said:
Question is which would be cheaper to burn coal or Zimbabwean dollars? Got to get feed community oil barrel something.
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Coal 100%. Even the cheapest Zim notes are getting to be relatively expensive.

I personally really enjoy collecting notes from Zimbabwe. I personally don’t really care for the hyperinflation series. But I’ll still eventually get them to finish up my set fully. I’m in no rush though as the supply there isn’t going to run out. I instead focus on Rhodesian issues (I almost have the entire set excluding the excessively expensive £5 and £10 colonial notes) alongside early Zimbabwean notes. The 100 trillion notes aren’t rare. However when they were being issued many dealers bought bricks for dirt cheap and started sitting on them. They’re doing the same with Venezuelan notes now too. And over time dealers have basically been forcing the price up with manufactured scarcity. Really scummy behaviour if you ask me.
 
cranoppwel said:
Coal 100%. Even the cheapest Zim notes are getting to be relatively expensive.

I personally really enjoy collecting notes from Zimbabwe. I personally don’t really care for the hyperinflation series. But I’ll still eventually get them to finish up my set fully. I’m in no rush though as the supply there isn’t going to run out. I instead focus on Rhodesian issues (I almost have the entire set excluding the excessively expensive £5 and £10 colonial notes) alongside early Zimbabwean notes. The 100 trillion notes aren’t rare. However when they were being issued many dealers bought bricks for dirt cheap and started sitting on them. They’re doing the same with Venezuelan notes now too. And over time dealers have basically been forcing the price up with manufactured scarcity. Really scummy behaviour if you ask me.
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Pretty much the definition of Scalping. I had to pay hundreds of Dollars for my 100 Trillion Dollar Bill. I can honestly tell millions of them have my been made. The one I have is a really late one. Around 5 million of these things were made, probably even more.
 
Involuntary Celebrity said:
I dug up my 50 trillion dollar note just yesterday. Finally things are coming up Milhouse
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I have one of those too. Less than 5 million of them were made basically. The 20 Trillion Dollar Bill is even more rare with less than 600,000 of them being made as far as I know, and I own 2 of them, though it's only half as expensive as the 100 Trillion Dollar Bill. It really comes to show how the reserve bank of Zimbabwe keep running out of paper to print these bills. There were also less than 1 million of the 10 million dollar bills in Zimbabwe and they cost even more than the 50 Trillion Dollars bill, but less than the 100 Trillion Dollars bill. However, the 100 Trillion Dollar bill isn't the most expensive apparently. The 10,000 Dollar Bill has millions of banknotes printed but I keep seeing listings of these bills well above 300 dollars sometimes going as high as thousands of dollars. Though you can buy some in used condition for around 10 dollars.
 
Sorry to unbury that thread and bring it back from the dead but I saw that article wondering if Zimbabwe will get their money backed by gold?

Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times,

Will gold rescue Zimbabwe from the ashes of economic despair and usher in a new economic era?

Since Zimbabwe declared independence from the former Republic of Rhodesia in 1980, the southern African country has been ravaged by inflation and overall economic turmoil. Over the past 40 years, the annual inflation rate has only touched single-digit territory twice: 1980 (7 percent) and 1988 (7 percent).

Excessive money printing, fiscal mismanagement, economic sanctions, and currency instability have been the root causes of its perpetual financial crisis, resulting in political and social upheaval.

In 2008, Zimbabwe was given the unfortunate record of the highest inflation rate in the world, touching 250 million percent. This forced then-President Robert Mugabe and his government to abandon the Zimbabwe dollar and begin relying on nine foreign currencies, particularly the U.S. dollar and the South African rand. In 2019, Harare introduced a new Zimbabwean currency, but it did not take long for the revival of hyperinflation, with the inflation rate surpassing 600 percent by March 2020.

After numerous trials and errors on the monetary policy front, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) experimented with something old and something new: a gold-backed digital currency.
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Super-Chevy454 said:
Sorry to unbury that thread and bring it back from the dead but I saw that article wondering if Zimbabwe will get their money backed by gold?
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If it does, The US would be pissed. I remember the devaluation of the Iraqi Dinar after the war on terror because before it was 3 times stronger than the US dollar and on par with what Kuwait is now. Before the federal reserve note, there was the Silver and Gold certificate, after, The US dollar continues to almost consistently weaken. Zimbabwe and the United States were not always on best terms hence the sanctions that tempted Zimbabwe to keep printing money. Hopefully Uganda's response to the United States sanctioning them after banning faggotry by rejecting the US gay money would help Zimbabwe later on.
 
I found an ebay listing of a cheque for 800 trillion Zimbabwean dollars going for as high as 400 USD.
800 Trillion.png
 
Here's the real play:
  • pick a little-known country
  • write articles about the 1967 Suriname hyperinflation crisis
  • use as sources for a wikipedia page
  • shill it on reddit as this cool overlooked piece of historical trivia
  • pay a financial advice youtuber to talk about it, and incidentally mention his collectible Surinamese quadrillion dollar bill
  • of course you already have your fake bills on ebay ready for suckers to invest in
If you don't think it'd work, consider how many people believed easily disproved myths like Nuclear Gandhi. To the average person, if you google it and get a wikipedia page, it's real. Not like you'd be the first to profit off a fake historical event.
 
The 100 Trillion Dollar bill and 50 Trillion Dollar bill are nearly double the price now and the 20 Trillion Dollar Bill listing's are starting to run out as only 600,000 of them are printed. (Thankfully I have 2 of these bills). Listing's are around 50 dollars a piece but I predict after all of them are sold, they're really gonna gain in value.
 
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