What is the rarest banknote in circulation in the world ?

What is the rarest banknote in circulation in the world ?
Any idea

Can something be labelled rare if it is circulating.
Probably something with a very high denomination.

Yes

"What is the rarest banknote in circulation in the world ?
Any idea"

- As far World currency goes, I would suspect the brief Panama Balboa to be up there, in terms of rarity. According to most sources I've read (including Wiki) 2.7M balboas were slated to be issued. However, the president behind it, was ousted in a coup, after only 1 week. The new president recalled all the notes & burned whatever was not issued. So few banknotes actually made it into circulation. The 5, 10 & 20 Balboas would likely be the toughest though the Ones rarely come to auction too.

- As far as regular currency goes, then I'd have to go with solid radars (for CDN currency they're 1 in 10,000,000) & errors or double-whammy notes like replacement radars (scarcity is pretty tough to ascertain but I'm sure there's Number crunchers out there who do that).

Is it in circulation

Citeer: "Serial_Number_8"solid radars

​Thanks for the explanation.
What is a solid radar?
This fancy numbers PMG notes site has some amazing examples. The rotator serial number is cool.

Citeer: "Nippon 725"​Is it in circulation

​Yes the Panamanian Balboa was in circulation (for 1 week in the 1940's). Whenever I hear about a young collector wanting to acquire a banknote from each nation I always think, well good luck finding that one.

Of course, there would be several banknotes out there that are quite rare. All the high US denominations ($10,000 & some $500) are scarce in higher grades but they were never intended for the average person. Most of these were seldom used between financial institutions (so should be in high grade) & later sold to wealthy individuals. Yes, they were circulated - but more "kinda" circulated then truly circulated amongst the masses (& only sold to wealthy individuals so - they'll always be sold in 6 figures for top grades b/c of the wealthy fan base for these).

Many CDN low denominations are pretty rare for some short-lived series & one note the 1924 $5 Queen Mary is often hard to come by (had a very short release). Much rarer than most US notes but they don't have the following so their prices are pretty good (even though high).

Almost any colonial note from the East African (or West) African nations (Southern or Rhodesian), or French Indochina, & Asian colonies (Straits Settlements- before Singapore), Malaya & British Borneo issued notes that were limited & needed to be used at the time- so quite tough & often scarce in higher denominations. I cover some of this on my website.

I rarely see older colonial pound notes from the Caribbean (Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica & Trinidad) so any of these can be quite rare (again, the higher denominations in higher grades) but the lower denominations (5, 10 Shilling & 1 pounds) all go for a pretty penny too.

Citeer: "Nippon 725"​What is the rarest banknote in circulation in the world ?
​Any idea

​Older Victorian English pound notes in high grade condition are quite rare and expensive. Also what Serial_Number_8 said about the week Panama notes those are rare as well. Finally the never issued Hungarian one sextillion Pengo note is really rare to find in any condition.


Update: Singapore 10,000 dollars 1999 is quite rare and expensive.

Citeer: "Serial_Number_8"​

Citeer: "Nippon 725"​Is it in circulation

​​Yes the Panamanian Balboa was in circulation (for 1 week in the 1940's). Whenever I hear about a young collector wanting to acquire a banknote from each nation I always think, well good luck finding that one.
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​Almost any colonial note from the East African (or West) African nations (Southern or Rhodesian), or French Indochina, & Asian colonies (Straits Settlements- before Singapore), Malaya & British Borneo issued notes that were limited & needed to be used at the time- so quite tough & often scarce in higher denominations. I cover some of this on my website.
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​I rarely see older colonial pound notes from the Caribbean (Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica & Trinidad) so any of these can be quite rare (again, the higher denominations in higher grades) but the lower denominations (5, 10 Shilling & 1 pounds) all go for a pretty penny too.

​That’s why I’m focusing on coins from every nation but I would run into the same issue with different countries.


The only Panama notes I see for sale are copies.

But I asked for circulation, but none of them are circulating

Do you mean circulating notes that are being used today or was legal tender?

Would the 1996 HSBC $50 note count? Only 1 million were issued.

Citeer: "KS5331 Productions"​Would the 1996 HSBC $50 note count? Only 1 million were issued.

​Then this Turkish 1,000 Lira from 1927 should definitely count, with its 15,374 pieces.

Citeer: "Worldwide collection"​Do you mean circulating notes that are being used today or was legal tender?

​Yes

Canada 1000 dollars and the Mexico large size !000 pesos both still legal but a pain to find in the wild at face value

I think this is a bit of a loaded question since most world currency enthusiasts won't really know what's rare out there (unless they have had help, inside info from a hardcore currency 'nut' collector who tracks info like this from their nation).

Speaking of "nuts:"
Here, in Canada approx 8.3M Macklem-Carney FTH $10 were supposed to be released but here are the # reported by collectors over the past 8 years:

Between 6-8000 of the other regular prefixes were reported so something must have happened to their release.

(1 of the 13 FTH prefixes reported)

We all knew that only 240,000 BSW $20 were released so nobody expected many to show up.

Still 16 were reported, including this one I found:

They were released in 2012 & it took me 5-6 years (& nearly $100,000 worth of Twenties) to find one. Along the way, I also got this one:

the #2 note of the BSJ prefix which is also a tough note to find. That was what I meant by special serial numbers (low #, Million # notes & yes 'BlueHawk' rotators as well).

Maybe 500 Euros, it is referred to as the Bin Laden note, very few people gave seen one.

Citeer: "Nippon 725"​

Citeer: "Worldwide collection"​Do you mean circulating notes that are being used today or was legal tender?

​​Yes

​This question is somewhat subjective the way it is written. The number of notes printed and what the denominations pay for can be a big determining factor in this debate. For example some large denomination notes are still "in circulation". However, they don't see much use. Singapore is discontinuing its' 10,000 ringgit notes but are still in circulation which almost never see anything near regular use. The USA $10,000 note is still technically "in circulation", but I don't think that most people would use a note like that considering you need to buy something very expensive and are close to 100 years old. Both of those notes were not made in large numbers. Banknotes can still be in circulation even though most of the original printing, which could have been in the hundreds of millions, have long succumbed to over use and were sent back for destruction, but you can very rarely find one still floating around the economy. Another interesting aspect is collectability. Last year in Thailand the BOT released a 100 baht and a 1000 baht note for commemoration of coronation. As far as I can tell both notes were made in the quantity of 100,000,000, which really is a large number. Both denominations have been collected out of circulation and you never see them at all anymore and they are only around 6 or 7 months old.

Your question is interesting and could very well garner 100 different answers from 100 different collectors. Maybe other collectors could share insights to some of the banknotes from your countries.

Citeer​They were released in 2012 & it took me 5-6 years (& nearly $100,000 worth of Twenties) to find one. Along the way, I also got this one:
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​Persistence & patience are very rewarding. $100,000 worth of twenties - say no more

I think Transnistrian commemorative banknotes are the rarest

Tiny nation states like the Falkland Islands have small runs like 200,000 for their 10 & 20 Pound notes. I would suspect that Gibraltar, St. Helena, Jersey, Guernsey & Isle of Man would all have similar tiny issues. Their notes all seem pretty expensive likely because demand outstrips supply. The question is quite vague but small island nations like Bermuda, Fiji & Faroe Islands should also "fit the bill" or at least be "tough" to acquire just from world banknote collector's perspective.

If you really are interested in rare notes (not eBay "rare") but truly scarce notes then you should be searching for special serial numbers, errors or replacements.

I do agree