(Irvine, California) — Spectrum Numismatics International of Irvine, California again is expanding its operations with the opening of a World Currency Division.

“We have hired long-time paper money collector and dealer, David Leong of New Hampshire, to be our World Currency Trader. His three decades of extensive experience and knowledge will be a tremendous benefit to collectors as we launch our World Currency Division,” said Peter A. Treglia, Director, Spectrum Currency.

Leong is a contributor to the respected reference books, Standard Catalog of World Paper Money and Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money.

He’s a member of the Professional Currency Dealers Association, lifetime member of the International Bank Note Society and President of the Currency Club of New England. Leong is the founder of PaperM, a company that specializes in world bank notes.

He earned a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineers from Case Western Reserve University and a Masters of Science in Statistics from the University of New Hampshire.

Spectrum Currency buys and sells large type, small type, national, fractional, Confederate, obsolete, error, fancy serial number notes, and now world currency.

For additional information, contact Peter A. Treglia, of Spectrum Currency at 888-828-2646, or e-mail PeterT@SpectrumCurrency.com.

Celebrated visual artist Romeo Mananquil, who migrated to Canada two decades ago, has an ax to grind with the central bank, for which he designed (together with two other Filipino artists) a series of banknotes and coins during the 1980s.

Our sources say Mananquil (who is identified with the flora and fauna coin series) was upset after recently finding out that his design for the now-demonetized P5 note—the green one that depicts Emilio Aguinaldo hoisting the Philippine flag in Kawit, Cavite—was used by the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, or BSP, for the P100,000 centennial notes printed in 1999—allegedly without his consent and with some alteration.

Only 1,000 of these notes were issued in 1998 to commemorate the Centennial of Independence from more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule. The notes were intended for collectors. The initial offering price was 180,000 Piso ($4175), substantially higher than the face value.

The 100,000 Piso note, measuring 356mm x 216mm (about the size of a legal page), is accredited by the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest legal tender note in terms of size.

Mananquil has sent his lawyers to assert his legal rights over the artwork, lamenting its “economic exploitation.”

Its lawyers argue that the central bank is considered as a co-owner of the artwork and therefore has the right to use it with or without the artist’s permission.

The artist’s lawyers recently wrote the Monetary Board, the policymaking body of the BSP, to appeal his case. Will this debate over intellectual property rights erupt into a courtroom battle?

Spink has announced the sale of the famous Number Eight £1,000,000 note. It is believed that only two notes of this high denomination exist in the world today, the other numbered 000007.

The million pound note was issued in connection with the Marshall Aid Plan after World War II and was intended for internal use as ‘records of movement,’ for a period of six weeks only. It is believed that nine examples were produced and only two, Numbers Seven and Eight, survived.

The two notes were given as mementoes to the respective U.S. and U.K. Treasury Secretaries. The Number Seven was first sold in 1977 and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as being the highest denomination note in private hands.

The 8-inch-wide green banknote, numbered 000008, was issued by the Bank of England on Aug. 30, 1948, in connection with the Marshall Aid Plan in the aftermath of World War II. It bears the signature of E. E. Bridges in the lower right hand corner and is cancelled over the signature and stamped 6 October 1948, Bank of England.  Spink’s  said the defunct note, entered for sale by the U.K.-based banknote collector Bill Parkinson, may fetch 35,000 pounds to 40,000 pounds at its Oct. 1 sale of world banknotes.

“This is the highest denomination of banknote we’ve ever sold,” said Barnaby Faull, director of banknotes at Spink. “There are hyperinflation Weimar-period notes for 10 billion marks, but they would only have bought a cup of coffee.” (more…)