Hyper reality, old money and collecting it.

[alexkuzmov]

So a bill from 2005 is being decommissioned in my country.
20 BGN, or 20 leva, 20 лева.


If you have this bill you can return it in an office of the central Bulgarian bank and get its equivalent in the current money.

OR
you can sell it to someone who wants to collect it for twice its nominal value, 40 BGN
Even banks are selling them.

Talk about hyperrealities
Buying less money with more money, or swapping painted paper essentially.

I dont know why, but I thought of something that we used to do when I was a kid.
We had these picture books and they had a smell on their pages.
Some where more expensive than others, with nicer pictures.
So we used to swap them with other kids.
Its was as real as money to us, you could get something to eat from other kids for these picture papers with smell. Like their lunch
It was no joke, the bigger and rarer your collection was, the cooler you were.
These are the ones I mean:


Swapping old money bills for new ones, just to collect them is kind of the same thing.
We never really grow out of this habit of collecting wortless junk which is percived as valuable by others.

But why? Why do we as humans feel the urge to do that through out our lives?

 

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[maximusharrison]

Some people like the thrill of the hunt, looking to find rare or unique pieces. Many collections are built around nostalgia, either personal memories or shared cultural touchstones. On the practical side, there is an element of investment in collecting certain objects as well, of course. However, I think some collectors simply take pleasure in admiring the craftsmanship and physical beauty of their objects - coins, stamps, banknotes... It could be the need to have "many" of something and especially something "rare", both quite universal only with sort of a creative twist when it comes to this hobby.

 

[alexkuzmov]

Some people like the thrill of the hunt, looking to find rare or unique pieces. Many collections are built around nostalgia, either personal memories or shared cultural touchstones. On the practical side, there is an element of investment in collecting certain objects as well, of course. However, I think some collectors simply take pleasure in admiring the craftsmanship and physical beauty of their objects - coins, stamps, banknotes... It could be the need to have "many" of something and especially something "rare", both quite universal only with sort of a creative twist when it comes to this hobby.

Would you collect old money notes and pay double/triple their nominal value?

 

[Skroob]

I've been collecting Magic the Gathering cards for years. I have a pretty decent collection of cards that are worth a lot, and an enormous collection of cards that aren't really worth anything, except in bulk. I'm in the process of selling off like 99% of the collection, simply because I'd rather have the money than have to move all this heavy cardboard to the new house, only to have it clutter up my new office there instead.

 

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