Collecting Banknotes/ Paper Money

This came into common usage in Europe in the latter part of the seventeenth century, in the form of bills, drafts and promissory notes used by bankers and merchants.

But the history of paper money goes back beyond that time, and is genrally accepted as having originated in china around a.d.700.

It took the form of paper drafts and developed into paper money redeemable in coin around a.d. 1000

It is interesting to note that these early banknotes were issued in great number with little or no regard for the economy.

The result was raging inflation and the downfall of the government in this case a dynasty. Nearly two thousand years later we still have the same trouble. Will we never learn?

Apart from the traditional old paper money there is a great potential in the banknotes of new or emerging countries.

Quite often a coup will overturn a government and the new leader immediately orders the elimination or withdrawal of that country’s currency so that he can get his own portrait on the new issue. This sort of situation could well lead to a shortage of a particular note.

One collector of banknotes framed his collection in a glass with a black velvet cloth as a background. His collection has also increased substantially in value and as decorative scheme , the effect is absolutely stunning.

Art Deco

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Art Deco refers to all decorative designs between world war one and two. The investing collector have a wide array of items to choose from because Art Deco extends to a long period of time.

Art Deco connotes to a period rather than a style. this is the era of the flapper, the charleston and the wallstreet crash. It penetrated all aspects of life from clothing to buildings, from egg cups to office furniture. the collector has a vast field from which to select.

Ceramic vases,porcelain figures,bone china,porcelain tea and coffee sets of the art deco era are rapidly rising in prices.

Since the opening of tutankhamen's tomb in 1923 egyptian designs and motiffs started to appear in everything like clocks were designed with scarab wing sides and dining chairs with stepped pyramid like backs.

Art Deco hold the most promise for the enthusiatic who wishes to consider his collection as an investment.

Collecting Vintage Watches

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One of the achievements of early man is the invention of time. back in the olden days we measured the day through sun's daily motion and and placement of the moon of a certain amount of cycle. That's how we enabled to keep the time.

We decided that the year is composed of 365 days and the day is composed of 24 hours. Since then we were able to keep appointments to be at a given place and at a given time.

Early man used sundial to waterclock and much later years to spring driven clock which eventually led to the miniaturization to the pocket watch then ultimately to the wrist watch.

Now how do we know that a certain vintage watch is valuable? well factor in availabilty, craftmanship, history and desirability. If certain timepieces were made in a batch of millions compared to only 300 pieces made. Then the latter fetch a more hefty price.

Condition is more important than the brand. Check out the movement and the inside of the casing . iIf there's discoloration, dings, scratches, blotches, flecks of rust be wary of all of these signs for it meant abusive wear and tear and watch parts swapping.

If a watch is part of a major turning point in history of mankind then consider the watch prestigious. The Longines hour angle watch worn by Charles Lindbergh when he made his solo flight the first ever over the Atlantic.

The explorer by rolex which is known for its triangle on the 12 on the dial both for roman and arabic numbers worn both by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay when they summited Nt. Everest for the first time in history and of course lastly but certainly not the least the omega speedmaster worn by Neil Armstrong when he first landed on the moon. The slogan still lives on" Omega Speedmaster the first watch on the moon".

Collecting vintage watches while fun can be easily become an obsession. It's easy to be addicted to acquiring these timeless time keeping artifacts. depending on your personal taste and budget you might want to collect pocketwatches, wristwatches-chronographs, led and lcd watches etc.

Back in the early nineties swatch company made collecting watches more affordable with all these psychedelic colorful designs on plastic.

Which by the way i have a sizable colection. now i'm hoping to get my hands on some led watches where in you just push a little button and light would emit displaying what time it is.

I think it's vogue to sport these watches because not too many people are wearing it nowadays. and also it brings back a lot of memories especially the disco dancing, mirrorball, white suit and john travolta of the 70's.

Remember for all your collecting ideas always drop by Rare Antiques Collectibles and Memorabilia.