Malaysia 50 Ringgit - Extra Digit in Serial Number

Tweet

This interesting 50 Ringgit piece landed on my table some weeks back. It's not mine but I was asked to take a look at it. Here's the high resolution photo of the reverse  :

Fig. 1 : Malaysian RM50 Ringgit, Reverse

Can you see the very faint extra digit on the bottom right?

For those who collect fancy number banknotes, they will know that the only way the digit at the back can only happen when the serial number reaches ten million or 10000000. And as far as I know for that last piece in each prefix, the last digit "0" is manually inserted, not printed by the numbering machine. So there is absolutely no way an extra digit is going to appear in the location above, what more it is also misaligned; the last digit is always a zero, not eight.

So at the first glance this piece looks suspicious already!

Now if you check the last digit really up close, here's what you'll see :

Fig. 2 : Comparing the 2 digits of "8" under a microscope

The one on the left is the last digit and the one on the right is another "8" for the same banknote. Notice the difference in the height and width?

That's the dead giveaway that the extra "8" is added after the banknote left the factory.

So folks, please be careful when you come across any such "error notes".

Happy Collecting !

Tweet

Malaysia 1 Ringgit Ali Abul Hassan Side/Vertical Signature ??

Tweet

Fake AAH Signature on the side/vertical on 1 Ringgit note 

Almost all of Malaysian banknote collectors know that there is only one version of the 1 Ringgit Ali Abul Hassan (commonly referred to as AAH) signed notes i.e. the one with the signature is a center of the obverse and the only prefix for this is none other than the famous "CR" prefix.

Then one fine day, someone showed me the much-talked-about but never seen side/vertically signed note, which is quite interesting because my good friend LUNATICG happen to mention that in his blog article titled "Top 10 Myths in Malaysian Numismatics". This "phantom" piece is listed at item #4. The most astonishing part is that someone allegedly paid RM15,000 (about USD4,000) for that piece. However, there were no photos of that piece shown in the article.

Now I am not at all sure if this piece that appeared before me is that very same piece or if it is even produced by the same "counterfeiter"* (a special heartfelt thanks to Eryclunk Numismatic (FB name) for showing me this); but it is far too interesting to let it go without taking a closer look at it!

* Technically speaking this is not a counterfeit because the banknote itself it genuine. It is an "alteration" made to it so that it will fetch a higher market value. 

Continue Reading >>>

Tweet

Fake error note : Malaya British Borneo 1961 10 Dollars

Tweet

One thing about collecting error notes is that it is fraud with many dangers. We had one such case recently.  A collector who recently acquired a piece of famous "kerbau" 10 Dollar error note ("kerbau" is Malay for buffalo) and he asked me to take a closer look at it and let him know what I think. Here's the high resolution scan  :

Figure 1 : Malaya British Borneo 10 Dollars 1 March 1961, Pick #9

The bottom right serial number appears to have been over printed i.e. the "9" has been over printed with a "0".

Continue Reading >>>

Tweet

World War II JIM - Malaya Japanese Propaganda Note

Tweet

Some people call it a "note", perhaps in reference to the short form for the term "banknote". If it is, then it is technically incorrect.

Before we get into the technical details, let's go back 70 years, Malaya was then under Japanese occupation since late 1941 / early 1942. By 1944/45 the tide was turning against the Japanese and toward the end of the war, sometime between 1944 and 1945, the Royal Air Force (British) started airdropping these pieces of paper as part of the psychological warfare initiative.

Fig 1 : Suspicious looking propaganda leaflet (Obverse)

Continue Reading >>>

Tweet