This Commemorative $10 note was the first banknote in the world to be printed on a non-fibrous polymer substrate. It incorporated a Diffractive Optically Variable Device (DOVD), which featured Captain Cook.

One side of the note symbolised European settlement with HMS Supply, the first ship to drop anchor in Sydney Cove, and a medley of persons symbolising all who have contributed to Australia's development since 1788.

The other side of the first polymer note symbolised the original discovery and settlement of Australia some 40–60,000 years earlier. It depicts an Aboriginal youth, a Morning Star Pole and other designs including from Aboriginal artworks commissioned by the Bank.

"3M™ Scotchshield™ Ultra Safety and Security Window creates an impenetrable window. This tough, new dimension in window film technology provides property and personal protection against crime, violent weather and accidents." - from www.3m.com

3M the company that makes post-it notes also make a whole load of other products. In a recent marketing campaign in Vancouver they sought a strong image for their security glass. They modified a bus shelter and fitted their security glass and filled it with real bills! Many have tried to gain access with golf clubs and baseball bats but obviously the glass remains intact! (although other sources say that there was only $500 of real currency, the rest is fake, which i think is more believable. A security guard was present for the duration of the promotion. People were told they could only use their feet and would not get to keep the money if they were successful.)

Hmm.. if only my money album was made of that material.. i wouldn't care if it was laying around for people to see

Believe it or not, the 100,000-peso Philippine Centennial note, measuring 8.5"x14" (exactly the size of legal-size paper), is accredited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest legal tender note! Only 1000 pieces were issued during the celebration of the centennial of Philippine independence in 1998.

Have you ever wondered why different kinds of money are called what they are? Why
is peso called a peso and mark called a mark, for example? Well, the following list
will let you find out a little bittle about what names of some world money mean.

AUKSINAS (Lithuania) - means "golden" or "gulden". Auksinas derives from
lithuanian "Auksas" which means "gold". Currently "Litas" is used in Lithuania
which has no particular or direct meaning or translation other than similarity with
the name of the country "Lietuva" (Lithuania; Litauen; Lituanie; Lituania).

COLON (Costa Rica, El Salvador) - derives from last name of Christopher Columbus -
Cristobal Colon.

DRACHMA (Greece) - means "handful".

ESCUDO (Portugal) - means "shield", referring to the coat of arms on the original
coin.

FORINT (Hungary) - means "golden".

FRANC (Frank, Frang) (France, Switzerland, Luxembourg) - first issued in
1360, as a gold coin. Gets its name from its original Latin inscription - Francorum
Rex, which means "King of the Franks", - the title given to kings of France in the
1300s.

GUILDER (Gulden, Florin) (Netherlands) - from the same root as "gilded", the
guilder was originally a gold coin. It was first introduced from Florence in the
13th century. Florin - another nickname for Guilder means "flowers".

KORUNA (Czechia, Slovakia) - means "crown".

KRONA (Kroner, Kronor) (Iceland, Sweden, Norway etc.) - means "crown".

KUNA (Croatia) - means "marten". Marten skins were used as money.

LIRA (Lire) (Italy, Turkey) - from the Latin word libra, which means "pound".

MALOTI (Kingdom of Lesotho) - Maloti is plural for Loti, currency of Lesotho,
a kingdom in Southern Africa.

PESETA (Spain) - means "little peso", and was created in the 18th century as a "companion" coin to the Spanish peso.

PESO (Mexico) - means "weight". It was introduced by Spain in 1497, then
adopted by Mexico and other Latin American countries in the late 19th century.

POUND (English) - named for its weight in Sterlings, - the unit of currency in
Medieval England. The first pound coin was issued in 1642.

PULA (Botswana) - Pula means ‘rain’ in Setswana, but "pula pula" does not
mean a lot of rain. It means luck, prosperity, health.

RIYAL (Saudi Arabia) - borrows its name from the Spanish real, meaning "royal".

ROUBLE (Russia, Belarus etc.) - means "cut-off", a term that dates back to the
days when portions of silver bars were literally cut-off from the bars and used as
coins. The rouble was first issued as a silver piece in 1704.

RUPEE (Rupiah) (India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius etc.) - comes from the
Sanskrit rupa, which means "beauty" or "shape".

YEN (Japan) - borrowed from the Chinese yuan, which means "round", and
describes the coin. First issued in 1870.

YUAN (China) - means "round" and describes the coin.

ZLOTY (Poland) - means "golden".

[Taken from www.banknotes.com]

It is always a pleasure to get to know others who share the same hobby. If you already have a collection of your own and would like to trade some of your banknotes with my spares (see Bills Available for Exchange), simply post a comment in the said album if you have a Multiply account. If not, you may e-mail me at justinadriel@yahoo.com.

If you are interested in a particular bill, simply contact me and I will be most glad to send you a picture of the original bill in my possession. Of course, you will also have to send me the picture of the bill which you would like to exchange my bill with. It should not be one that is already in my collection (check the photo albums to verify). Banknotes of similar or better quality, as well as those from countries that are not yet represented in my collection are preferred.

Of course, I would very much welcome collectors who would like to exchange multiple bills at a time. If my 15 'Bills for Exchange' are not yet in your collection, I will most gladly trade them for 15 bills in your collection that are not yet in mine.

If you wish to trade your bill/s for my euros or Philippine pesos, the value of the said currencies will be highly considered because they are currencies which are currently being used here in France and in my country.

Finally, due to my location, I can only meet with collectors who live within the France Metropolitan area (within the Banlieue).

Please also remember: NO PLAY MONEY or COUNTERFEITS ALLOWED (duh!)
and my bills are NOT FOR SALE. EXCHANGE ONLY.

Thank you very much!

Numismatically yours,
Justin

1. In your opinion, what's the worst thing that ever happened in the history of money collecting?



The birth of the Euro in 2002, which signalled the death of 15 European currencies, namely the German Mark, the Netherlands Guilden, Italian Lire, Spanish Peseta, Portuguese Escudo, Irish Pound, Greek Drachma, Austrian Schilling, Finnish Markka, Slovenian Tolar, Cypriot Pound, Maltese Lira and the French, Belgian and Luxembourg Franc. Though economically beneficial, the transition inevitably led to 15 less currencies to collect, and that number just keeps on growing! By 2012 to 2014 an additional 9 countries will have ceded their currencies in favor of the euro :(

2. What's your favorite banknote in your collection?



My favorite bill is the Commemorative $10 note from Australia which was the first banknote in the world to be printed on a non-fibrous polymer substrate. It is also worth noting that this particular bill that I have in my collection is from the limited first print run as it bears the prefix AA and is imprinted '26 January 1988'. The bill was printed and issued only in 1988.

3. What's the oldest banknote in your collection?






























My oldest banknote is a 1000 Mark German note which was printed in Berlin on the 21st of April 1910.

4. What bills in your collection have the highest/lowest denomination?



The bill with the highest denomination or face value in my collection is a 500,000,000,000 Dinara note from Yugoslavia which was printed in 1993. It was sent to me through airmail by Marko Mihajlovic, a fantastic Slovenian collector.

On the other hand, the bill with the lowest denomination in my collection is a one-fourth Dinar bill from Kuwait.

5. When and why did you start collecting?

I started collecting in 1997 when i spent the summer of that year in Saudi Arabia, thanks to my daddylo who was then the incumbent Phil. ambassador and my mommyla (combined endearment terms for daddy-lolo and mommy-lola because my grandparents didn't want to be called lolo and lola). The first foreign bills that I had, aside from the common US Dollar, were Saudi Riyals. At that time, 1 Riyal = 7 Pesos, and 1 Riyal could buy any can of softdrink from the vending machines which were everywhere. At around the same time, my interest in collecting coins and stamps arose.



I started collecting because I was fascinated by the fact that each banknote tells a little story of its own. I also regard them as little pieces of artwork. It also isn't a so-so collection because it takes time and resourcefulness in order to build one's bill collection.

6. Where do you get your bills?

Most of my banknotes came from either my relatives, friends or classmates. In fact, my 50 Dinar bill from Macedonia came from a classmate in French class whom I've only spoken to that first and last time. Very few of the bills came from my foreign travels. It is definitely more fun and more fulfilling to receive or exchange bills rather than buying them, so as much as possible, I avoid buying bills. It ruins the spirit of collecting. Although occasionally, it's also nice to buy bills from shops or from eBay especially if they're rare because you get to choose which one you like and they're usually uncirculated so they're as good as new.

7. How many countries does your collection currently represent?

As of the 28th of March 2007, exactly 81 countries including the Philippines are represented by my collection. The euro has not been included in the collection since I'm still using the currency here in France, thus, it is impractical to collect them. A country may have as few as 1 type of bill in my collection or as much as 9 types due to different denominations coming from the same country (i.e. China).

8. What other things do you collect?



Aside from banknotes, i also have a collection of coins, stamps and rocks. My coins have filled 3 small albums while my stamps have filled 2 big albums and 2 small albums. The rocks are just in a small box. They're not really precious minerals, but some have fascinating properties.

9. Have you exchanged any of your banknotes for pesos?



Yes, unfortunately. It was a stupid mistake and it will never happen again. My grandma gave me 15,000 Japanese Yen, which was equivalent to around PHP6,000 at that time. I exchanged them in order to buy a Diamond Viper V770 TNT2 Ultra Graphics Accelerator for my PC which was the top of the line at that time and was worth around PHP6500. I felt that it was worth it at that time, but as time went by, I realized what a waste it was. In fact, when I put it up for sale in order to upgrade to a higher card a few years later, i was only able to sell it for not more than PHP1000 because no one would buy it for more than that price. Moral lesson: Good things come to those who wait. It's the same thing when it comes to collecting. Don't hurry to fill your collection. Let it grow naturally. Meet foreign friends, travel abroad, deal with other collectors.

10. Would you sell your collection in the future?

Never. This collection will become an heirloom which will be passed on from generation to generation. I wish I knew what would become of it by 2097 (100 years after the collection started). When the time comes that money becomes an obsolete medium of exchange and credit cards and microchips begin to occupy its role in commerce, the value of this collection will definitely skyrocket. So I hope that none of my descendants make the mistake I made in question 9.

Justin Adriel Ordoyo was born on the 14th of October 1987.

He had his elementary and secondary education at Colegio San Agustin - Makati. In 2005, he entered the University of the Philippines under the BSc in Business Economics program. After only one year of university studies, he migrated with his family to France due to his father's posting as defense and military attaché at the Philippine Embassy. He currently studies at the University of Paris II - Panthéon-Assas where he is taking up Economics and Management.

In his spare time, Justin loves to travel, play badminton, play the piano, surf the net, and of course, collect bills!!

"What better way to make a logo for the Bank of Justin than to pattern it after a coin", Justin thought. But come to think of it, the final result wasn't only patterned to a coin. It IS a coin!

For those who have been to Europe anytime in the past four years, you may easily determine the original coin just by its golden outer rim. Yes, it's a 1 Euro coin -- a 1 Euro coin from Portugal to be exact. All 1 Euro coins are bimetal, the outer ring being made of yellow nickelbrass and the inner circle or "pill" being made of a white copper-nickel alloy.



Here, we see the reverse side of the Portuguese coin. The golden ring features 12 stars that correspond to the 12 stars on the European Union flag - a symbol of perfection. The design on the silver inner circle, which used to be the Portuguese Coat of Arms, has now been replaced by Justin's embossed portrait.

To give the logo a nobler and more majestic look, golden laurel leaves were added on the left and on the right.

MCMXCVII (1997) represents the year that he started collecting (even if the idea of The Royal Numismatic Bank of Justin Ordoyo arose almost a decade later).

After nearly a decade since he started collecting banknotes from all over the world, Justin Adriel Ordoyo Fernandez y Asistores Espaldon has finally decided to make a catalog of all the bills which he has collected since then.

Before creating this site, he already planned to catalog all his bills, but not in any glamorous way. In fact, an excel spreadsheet listing all the banknotes, their face values, serial numbers, date of printing, currency and country of origin would have sufficed. But his passion for collecting these treasures gave him the impetus to come up with the simple and colorful multiply site that you now see before you.

His first dillemma was how to get all the images of the bills into the site. He didn't want only the obverse (front) side but also the reverse (back) side of the bills as well. He has an HP ScanJet 2400C Scanner, but he thought to himself that scanning all those bills would be an incredible waste of time and energy. He also didn't want to take each and every bill out of his money album, scan them, and put them back again. Soon, he thought of a solution. Thanks to KCShop.com's vast and extensive catalogue of banknotes, he was simply able to download the images of the bills. He didn't mind even if the watermark of KCShop was on the images as long as it would spare him the aggravation of scanning.

The next task was to think of a name for the site. showmethemoney, money, moneymoney, moneymoneymoney, ihatemoney, and justinumismatics were among the names that came up but unfortunately, the first four were already taken. He checked those URLs just to see who were using those usernames and see what they're site was about. To his surprise, all their sites were plain white and devoid of any meaningful content. "What a waste", he thought. ihatemoney on the other hand was a cool, paradoxical way to name the site, but Justin thought that it didn't identify himself with the site. Thus, he thought of "justinumismatics" which was the combination of "Justin" and "numismatics", the collection or scientific study of money and its history in all its varied forms. Unfortunately, it sounded too highfalutin or alien, and it might not appeal to those who do not share the same hobby and passion. Furthermore, numismatics was a term more particularly applied to coins. The more appropriate term when it comes to paper money or banknotes is "notaphily", but "justinotaphily" didn't sound amusing either.

Thus, he finally decided to give the site a simple yet professional name -- "bankofjustin.multiply.com". Note that this name was meant only to facilitate web navigation. The complete name given to Justin's collection is "The Royal Numismatic Bank of Justin Ordoyo".