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Paper Money Glossary and Terminology

Paper Money Glossary and Terminology:   also see Banknote Collecting

• ABM test note -a special imitation note issued for testing automatic banking machines(ABM).
• Allied Military Currency(AMC) -money issued by Allied military authority(USA, UK, Russia and France) during and after the World War II in following countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan.
• Back -the reverse side of a note.
• Billion
  • -in Europe 1.000.000.000.000 (in USA trillion)
  • -in USA 1.000.000.000 (in Europe miliard)
• Block number -number for a run(batch) or big sequence of notes.
• Cancellation -mark on withdrawn notes from circulation by punch hole, perforation, cutting, overprinting, stamping or writing.
• College currency -imitation of notes used by schools and colleges for training and educational purpose.
• Commemorative issue -banknote issued to commemorate an event or a person.
• Counterfoil -stub paper connected to the note, retained by issuer authority for record keeping.
• Counterfeit(forgery) -illegal copy of note. The contemporary counterfeits were made by Governments or private persons to pass side by side with genuine notes. Modern counterfeits were made to fool collectors (it is virtually an unknown problem in paper money collecting, with exceptions of overprints, additional stamps or very poorly unsecured printed emergency notes)
• Date -usually the issuing date of the note, sometimes the date of the law or decree of official currency authorization.
• Dating -usually Western date system -Christian calender(AD). Approximately conversion of other dating systems to Christian calender(AD), {2000 AD year in different calenders}:

  Christian calender(AD)	-AD	{AD 2000}
  Mohammed calender(AH)	-AH +579	{AH 1421}
  Solar calender(SH)	-SH +621	{SH 1379}
  Monarchic Solar calender(MS)	-MS -559	{MS 2559}
  Vikrama Samvat calender(VS)	-VS -57	{VS 2057}
  Saka calender(SE)	-SE +78	{SE 1921}
  Buddhist calender(BE)	-BE -543	{BE 2543}
  Bangkok calender(RS)	-RS +1781	{RS 219}
  Chula-Sakarat calender(CS)	-CS +638	{CS 1362}
  Ethiopian calender(EE)	-EE +8	{EE 1992}
  Jewish calender(JS)	-JS -3760	{JS 5760}
  Korean calender(KS)	-KS -2333	{KS 4333}

• Demonetized notes -paper money officially withdrawn from circulation and not longer redeemable.
• Emergency notes -local or private notes issued under emergency condition: lack of coins, banknotes, inflation, war or political destabilization. In German called notgeld (see notgeld).
• Engraved printing(intaglio) -printing method of 3 dimensional character from engraved plates.
• Errors -most common paper money errors are:
  • -design and engraving errors
  • -printing errors: incomplete printing, offset printing, double printing, out of registry printing, misplace print, misplace, offset image or lack of signature or date, ink smears, inverted back.
  • -numbering errors: mismatched prefix letters or serial numbers, partial digit serial number, missing number, misplace serial number, duplicate serial number
  • -cutting and folding errors: folds before printing, folds before cutting, cut out of registry, cut of size.
  • -overprint errors: double print, inverted print etc.
• Essay -a trial or design of new note. It may be drawn, printed or partially printed.
• Face -the front side of a note, usually with signatures and numbers.
• Fantasy notes -a totally invented or concocted note.
• Foxing -yellow-brown aging stains on the paper.
• Guilloche -the geometric design, printed as security device.
• Haj Pilgrim notes -banknotes issued for use only by pilgrims in another country.
• Hansatsu -Japanese Government, local or private paper money issued approximately from 1660 to 1875. Sometimes called "bookmark" notes because of their narrow vertical shape.
• Hell money -fantasy notes used by Chinese for burial purpose.
• Japanese Invasion Money(JIM) -paper money issued during World War II by Japan for occupied countries: Burma, Malaya, Netherlands Indies, Oceania, Philippines and Russia(not issued).
• Lithography(offset) -surface printing method of thin flat layer of ink.
• Local notes -notes issued by local authorities.
• Miliard -1.000.000.000(in Europe) in USA billion.
• Military Payment Certificates(MPC) -USA military notes issued for US military personnel in overseas countries from 1946-1973.
• Notgeld -German emergency money(Papernotgeld -emergency paper money). Usually collected by region or type:
  • -emergency paper money till 1914
  • -emergency paper money of 1914
  • -POW -prisoners of the war 1914-1918 (Gefangenenlager Notgeld)
  • -fractional notes in pfennigs 1916-1922 (Kleingeldscheine)
  • -series notes issued for collectors (Serrienscheine)
  • -notes in marks 1918-1921 (Grossgeldscheine)
  • -inflation emergency paper money 1922-1923
  • -notes in dollars or gold standard 1923-1924 (Goldnotgeld)
  • -concentration camps notes(Konzentrationslager)
  • -emergency paper money 1945-1949
• Notaphily -study and collecting of paper money and all substitutes of money printed on paper, plastic, cloth, wood, leather etc.
• Catalogue number -basic reference number refer to:
  • C-# -Campbell L.K. "Prisoner of war...camp money"
  • D-# -Denis Ch. "Catalogue des Monnaies Russie"Paris 1927
  • J-# -Jablonski T."Katalog papierowych pieniedzy"
  • JP-# -Pirot J."Les billets des Cambres de Commerce"
  • K-# -Kardakoff N."Katalog der Geldsheine von Russia"
  • M-# -Major W."Belgium Local emergency issues" IBNS
  • P-# -Pick A. "Standard catalog of World Paper Money"
  • SB-# -Schwan F. &Boling J."World War II Remembered"
• Pin holes -tiny holes made by pins or staples during old accounting process.
• Prisoner of War(POW) notes -notes issued for use in POW camps.
• Private notes -notes issued by private organization, company or person.
• Promotional note -a special souvenir, advertising or promotional print issued by printers(TdLR etc.), organizations(IBNS etc.) or a private person in form of a note or a card.
• Proof -whole or partial accepted design of note printed for propose of checking some details.
• Propaganda notes -usually facsimile notes printed with propaganda message, mostly during war time.
• Remainders -leftover original notes which were not put in to the circulation. Usually without signatures, numbers or date.
• Replacement notes -special run of notes printed by printer to replace damaged notes during printing process.
• Reprint -note printed from original plates, usually many years later.
• Russian occupation notes -Russian issued currency for several occupied countries by Soviet "Red Army" during and after the World War II.
• Scripophily -study and collecting of stock certificates, bonds and fiscal documents.
• Short Snorter -banknote signed by soldiers(mostly during World War II), very often several notes were taped together.
• Siege notes -emergency money issued during a siege of city.
• Specimens -samples of original banknotes distributed between banks to familiarize with new designed banknotes, usually with overprints, cancellation or special numbers. Sometimes issued for collector purpose.
• Stamp Currency -semi-stamps, revenue or post stamps used as emergency money, usually on cardboard or in protective casing.
• Unfinished note -note only partially printed.
• Validation -handstamp, adhesive stamp, perforation etc. added to the note for new validation of currency.
• Watermark -pattern in the paper created during manufacturing

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