I love collecting different banknotes as I travel to different countries - unfortunately, I only developed this hobby after visiting several places and abstaining from obtaining cash, so I have several places I need to return to. Still, let�s use this thread to share all of the interesting banknotes used across the globe.

I will start - here are the Serbian dinar (RSD) notes that I�ve collected this week. I�m missing the 5000 RSD note. The 500 is my favorite.

My second-latest pickup was the South African Rand - complete with both older and newer editions of the 50 ZAR note - I like the newer versions with the families of animals and the usage of the different official languages across the notes

I loved collecting coins/currency from my travels, but I hardly ever use cash anymore. Recently was in Poland and Czech Republic and never got a chance to get my hands on some cash.

Agreed, I make a point now to pull out cash as most places can be done with just cards.

Going back in order - the Philippine peso! Just beautiful! The 1000 PHP note is polymer, while the others are paper. Polymer notes are so satisfying to feel.

Here are three "short snorters" my dad brought back from WW2. Fellow soldiers (in his case, usually crew members from his B-17 on which he served as a navigator) would sign on some banknotes, with the idea that the person with the fewest names on his snorter would have to stand for a round of drinks at some reunion. Sadly, many of his colleagues didn't survive to make the date.

The notes are a Pound note from England, a note from free Morocco, and a 5 Ruble note from the USSR. My dad served with the 15th Air Force based in Italy. Many of their missions involved hitting targets in eastern Europe, most notably the Ploesti oilfields in Romania. They would fly from southern Italy, then land and rearm in the USSR, then hit their targets on the return.

I was in the PI this past June. I found a bunch of money that I had left over from my last trip in December 2018. All the bills were considered too old and were worth nothing. I didn't see anything that the country was changing the notes, and you had to bring the old ones into a bank to get the newer ones. All in all, at the time it was about US$100. In the US, unless the bill is severely defaced, the bank will accept it as a note that goes out of circulation, and turn it in when they get their money exchanged.

A rather silly mixture...lol

I am assuming it likely had to do with counterfeit issues with previous editions - though, I have heard even some of the current edition notes have been victim to that, too.

Vanuatu - talk about some currencies less commonly found! Love it!

Earlier this year, I managed to get a full set of CNY / RMB from Mainland China. Folks generally look at you a bit odd when using cash (which I only did to try to get change) as Alipay and Weixin Pay are so ubiquitous (and accessible to foreigners). As a result, I was happy with my finds.

Over to the UAE where you can find both older paper notes and newer polymer notes for the dirham (AED) - one of my favorite notes is the new 500 AED note as it features the Burj Khalifa and Museum of the Future

Here are some assorted photos - for some reason, I missed taking a photo of the older 500 AED note:

Over to Oman - the Omani Rial - the 100 baisa note is 1/10 of a rial - not my favorite Middle Eastern note

You know, you can just open the wikipedia page of your favorite currency and see the pics, right?

Sometimes the images are hard to see.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_peso

I think my favorite banknote in my small collection is the Hong Kong Dollar - with four issuers (HSBC, Bank of China, and Standard Chartered for most denominations + HK Government for HKD 10 notes), there is such a lovely diversity of designs - on my last trip, I picked up a set of 100 HKD notes - two from HSBC, an older version BOC note, and a Standard Chartered note. I actually think my overall favorite note in my collection is the BOC note with the Bank of China Tower on the front and a view of Kowloon on the back.

The Qatari Riyal - some of the smaller notes - I like the colors, but it is a bit sad that one of the sides is the same on all of the notes

The Saudi Riyal (SAR) - some notes were paper and others were polymer - it�s also interesting to see the difference in the Central Bank vs Monetary Authority language - I like the 10 SAR note the best due to the skyscrapers