If you have not yet read our article on starting a coin collection, start there. All the basics set out in it apply to banknotes as well: define your theme before the first purchase, learn before you buy, avoid cheap albums containing PVC, and buy from local platforms and collector meetings where you can hold the item first.
But collecting banknotes is not simply collecting coins on a softer material. It has its own rules, its own traps and its own charms that do not exist in the world of coins. Let us take the two most important differences right away: every banknote is a unique object by virtue of its serial number, and a very large share of the notes sold on the secondary market in “uncirculated” condition are not actually uncirculated. This article will show you how to turn both to your advantage.
1. Start with Estonian kroon notes 1992–2011
With coins we recommended starting with euro coins, because they have an Estonian national side. With banknotes it is the other way round: euro banknotes are identical in every euro-area country and have nothing Estonian about them. The story of Estonian paper money therefore essentially ends in 2011, and the most logical place to start is the kroon banknotes of the restored independence period, 1992–2011.
The reasons are the same as those for euro coins: the theme is clearly bounded (no new ones will ever be added), a large share of denominations and years are still affordable, and kroon notes are everywhere, from family drawers to osta.ee auctions. You will find all denominations and years with images and data in the catalog section “Eesti Vabariigi paberrahad 1992–2011.”
Before your first purchase, decide in what form you will collect kroon notes. There are three options.
Circulated banknotes. The cheapest way to put a collection together: with folds and signs of use, but often at almost face value. A good choice if the goal is first to assemble the whole set and learn the system.
Uncirculated, or UNC, banknotes. Not a single fold, paper with its original printing sheen. Such a collection is far more impressive and holds its value, but the price is noticeably higher than for circulated examples. As with coins: pick one level and stick to it, because a mixed collection is troublesome to even out later.
Kroon notes in bank packaging. At the end of the kroon era the Bank of Estonia issued banknotes in sealed transparent plastic packaging closed with a sticker. These are a collecting object in their own right: an unopened package is at the same time a guarantee that the note inside is untouched, in bank condition. Remember that an opened package loses its added value, so do not open them out of curiosity.
A fourth option, worth noting here only for information, is specimens. This is not a beginner’s subject. As a rule the only one to be found on the market is the 100 krooni 1999 specimen, packaged in the Bank of Estonia’s official folder. Other examples appear on the market very rarely, the price of a single note is tens of times higher than that of an ordinary note of the same denomination, and putting together a complete row is a project of ten years or more, not of a single season. Know that they exist, and leave them alone until your core collection is complete.
2. The serial number makes every banknote a unique object
Here lies the greatest charm of collecting banknotes, one that coins simply do not have. Two identical coins are identical. Two identical banknotes are never identical, because each has its own serial number. And whole collecting directions have grown up around those numbers.
Series letters. Each denomination was printed in several series, distinguished by the letter combination before the number. Some collectors set themselves the goal of assembling every series letter issued for a single denomination. This is an exciting way to give even a simple denomination depth, but bear in mind that not all series are equally available. Some series letters were printed in very small quantities, and a single such example can cost hundreds of euros. Before you set your sights on a complete row of series letters, look at what is actually on the market and at what price.
The AA series. The very first print series is always prized, because it is a banknote’s “birth certificate.” An AA-series UNC example as a rule costs more than a later series of the same note.
Replacement notes. When the printing works’ quality control finds a defective sheet before issue, it is rejected and a replacement note carrying its own separate designation is printed in its place. This is a printing-technical control mechanism, not the replacement of worn notes. Estonian kroon notes have two such designations, and this is worth knowing, because looking only for ZZ means missing some of the notes. On the 1- and 2-kroon notes replacements were marked with a star (*), and only later was the ZZ series introduced. Because replacement notes are printed in very small quantities for each batch, they are among the most coveted and expensive notes of all among collectors. Finding a replacement note in circulation or in a bundle is a feeling every banknote collector remembers.
Notes with special numbers. Collectors seek low numbers (000007), attractive patterns (000111), radar numbers that read the same in both directions (123321), and pairs and bundles with consecutive numbers. The same denomination and the same condition, but an interesting number can make a banknote many times more valuable.
A practical conclusion for the beginner: before you sell or trade away any kroon note, check the number. And if you take up number themes, decide that consciously too, because otherwise a “bounded” kroon collection stretches out endlessly again.
3. Once the kroon notes are complete: Bank of Estonia notes 1928–1940
The early years of Estonian paper money are a colorful world. The young state put several different kinds of payment instrument into circulation: the Tallinn Clearing House payment notes, the Treasury issues and the Bank of Estonia notes. Alongside them are two cases that were securities by nature but were used as money: the 5% debt obligations of the Provisional Government and the Treasury bills with which larger sums were moved. The Treasury bills never received official legal-tender status and very few uncancelled examples are known. All of this is in the catalog and makes fascinating reading, but for collecting it is advanced territory, where prices and rarities demand experience.
The most logical step after the modern kroon notes is therefore the Bank of Estonia notes 1928–1940. It is a small and clearly bounded series that can be assembled complete, and these notes carry the history of the golden age of the Republic of Estonia. Beyond that await the mark-era notes of 1918–1927 and the earliest means of payment.
With old Estonia there is one more decision to make, one we have always warned beginners about: whether specimens belong in your collection or not. For a beginner the honest answer is usually no. Specimens are a world of their own, where print runs are tiny, they reach the market very rarely, and the price of a single example can exceed the cost of a whole ordinary year set. Among the mark-era specimens there are notes known in so few examples that they simply do not come up for sale, and assembling a complete row can take decades. If you do not make this decision at the start, you will find yourself at some point hunting things you never planned to collect, and by then the budget will already have burst.
4. Condition, pressed notes and grading
Paper is fragile. Every fold, stain, tear and pinhole leaves a mark that can no longer be undone. Internationally, banknotes are graded by two large companies: PMG (Paper Money Guaranty, NGC’s sister company) and PCGS Banknote. Both use the same 70-point Sheldon scale familiar from coins. You will find a fuller overview of the PMG grading ladder in the grading companies section on our home page.
And now the most important secret of the banknote market, knowing which will save you from the most expensive mistakes: a very large share of the notes sold on the secondary market in “UNC” condition have in fact been artificially pressed flat. The folds have been steamed and flattened under a press, and some notes have also been washed. To the naked eye such a note looks uncirculated, but the treatment is detectable and a note like this receives a lower grade when graded. That is exactly why the quality designation next to the grade is information worth its weight in gold. PMG uses the abbreviation EPQ (Exceptional Paper Quality), and PCGS Banknote the abbreviation PPQ (Premium Paper Quality). Both confirm the same thing: the paper is original and has not been pressed, washed or treated in any other way. If you are buying a more expensive banknote, an example carrying an EPQ or PPQ designation is always the safer choice.
And here is a warning we pass on from our own experience: do not let yourself be drawn into Top Pop chasing, that is, collecting only the very highest grades. A real-life example: a 10 krooni 1928 in PMG 64 is available for a few hundred euros, while for the highest known grade many times more is asked, even tens of times more. With the naked eye hardly anyone can tell the two apart. Top Pop prices have been driven up by very wealthy collectors, and a beginner has no business in that game. A beautiful and rational target is a consistent Gem UNC level (PMG 65–66 EPQ) or, for the old mark notes, a deliberately chosen VF/XF grade.
And the banknote equivalent of the ban on cleaning coins: never iron, wash or press a banknote yourself. Every such “repair” destroys the value for good.
5. Tools: the banknote collector’s loupe is a UV lamp
With coins the most important tool was the loupe. With banknotes it is the UV lamp, and the reason is set out in the previous chapter.
Under UV light the optical brighteners left in the paper by washing glow, and original banknote paper does not contain them. UV also reveals fluorescent security fibers and security features, as well as repaired and repainted areas. The second indispensable technique is raking light: an ordinary flashlight held at a low angle brings out the scars of pressed folds that are invisible head-on. With these two techniques you will detect most treated notes before you buy.
Leuchtturm UV lamps and combined tools are available in Estonia: a pocket-size loupe with UV and LED lighting costs around 15 euros, and a proper lamp with LED and UV lighting about 70 euros. The smaller one is quite enough to start with.
Always handle banknotes by the edges with clean, dry hands.
6. Albums: banknotes have systems of their own
As with coins, an iron rule applies here too: only PVC-free materials, and no cheap albums of unknown origin. Paper is even more sensitive than metal, because it absorbs everything it comes into contact with.
Banknotes have album systems of their own. In Estonia you can get Leuchtturm banknote albums and sheets (among them the GRANDE and OPTIMA ranges), where notes sit in crystal-clear pockets and can be viewed from both sides, as well as sleeves for individual notes and compact pocket albums. An album with a slipcase comes to around 40 euros and sheets cost a couple of euros each.
The same principles apply to storage as with coins, but more strictly: a stable, dry living space, not a cellar or an attic, and no direct sunlight at all, because the colors of paper fade irreversibly. Add two paper-specific prohibitions: never a rubber band around a bundle of notes (the sulfur in rubber corrodes paper) and never a paper clip (rust leaves stains).
Your first steps as a banknote collector
- Read through the catalog introduction to the kroon banknotes 1992–2011 and write out the denominations and years. That is the frame of your collection.
- Decide on a level: circulated, UNC or in bank packaging. And decide whether serial-number themes (AA, ZZ, special numbers) belong in the plan.
- Buy an album with PVC-free banknote sheets and a lamp with UV lighting.
- Go through the family drawers and old wallets. Perhaps a ZZ-series note is waiting there.
- Follow the closing prices of kroon notes on osta.ee for a couple of weeks and compare how much the same note costs used, as UNC and in a PMG holder.
- When you get to older and more expensive notes, prefer certified examples or ask for an appraisal before buying.
Collecting banknotes rewards attentiveness. Whoever learns to see the marks of pressing and to notice serial numbers will find treasures where others walk straight past. When you get as far as rare notes, you will find a selection among our banknotes for sale , and with questions about appraisal and certification write to us.
Happy collecting!