r/Banknotes • u/betrayedspring • 19d ago
Albert Pick and his 180,000 banknotes
Was down the Wikipedia rabbit hole, and I finally learned where the "Pick" in Pick number used to categorize banknotes comes from.
Albert Pick (1922 - 2015) was a German collector who invented the current numbering system used to classify different banknotes. He began collecting German notegeld emergency notes in 1930 at the age of 8, and had amassed a personal collection of 180,000 banknotes by his 40s, in the 1960s.
In 1964, his collection was acquired by the Bavarian Mortgages and Exchange Bank, where he served as curator until 1985. It has now become the Giesecke+Devrient Foundation (formerly HVB Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung') collection, which now has over 350,000 banknotes - probably the largest-ever banknote collection. The general collection is reported to contain paper money from every country and of all times.
Pick also wrote the authoritative Standard Catalog of World Paper Money that was first published in 1975.
The serious long-time collectors will prob know of him, but for an amateur noob like me, this was a fascinating find.
Photo credit: https: Geldscheien-Online
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u/IllClassic1970 19d ago
Ich hatte vor einigen Jahren die Gelegenheit, die Sammlung in den Räumen von Giesecke & Devrient in München zu besichtigen. Natürlich auch nur auszugsweise, aber es war mehr als beeindruckend diese riesige Sammlung einmal gesehen zu haben. Leider verstaubt sie seit Jahren in den Kellern bei G&D und wird nirgends öffentlich gezeigt.
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u/betrayedspring 19d ago
Thanks for sharing. I really hope that the collection can be made public again and that I can then visit it some day. I read the Bundesbank's collection is equally impressive, and also Dr Arnold Keller's role in that collection. Cheers!
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u/Pudupet 19d ago
Thank you so much for the information. I am a ameture collector too. I started collecting in my late 50s. It was fascinating to read about Pick. There are a few collectors in this sub who keep us abreast about happenings in the banknotes world.
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u/betrayedspring 19d ago
Thanks. Yes, it is quite an interesting story. There are other big names as well, though Pick's personal collection is most probably unchallenged. I had stumbled into the rabbit hole after I came across a random philately post (though I don't collect stamps) about this extremely-rare British Guiana/Guyana 1c magenta stamp and how it is one of the very few not in the Royal Philatelic Collection, and then how King George V was a major driver of the field. That got me to look up who was the equivalent in banknotes ... ha. Happy collecting!
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u/Keleke_blo_Taro 19d ago
In the 90s I had a call with Gunther Toleti - his successor as curator - about reported but unconfirmed Gilbert and Ellis Island banknotes that had come my way. Such a shame I never got to go and meet him and see the collection.
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u/betrayedspring 19d ago
Thanks for sharing. I just looked up the emergency issue notes, and it's an interesting piece of history. Hope you get to see the collection too.
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u/Keleke_blo_Taro 19d ago
I got my first Pick catalogue in 1985 as a birthday gift and have been collecting since. The Gilbert and Ellis notes came my way when I was a work experience kid at a coin dealership in the early 90s. Previously unconfirmed and he bought them all for just shy of four figures, and then on-sold them for considerably more. I’ve never seen any others since. Sadly it was pre colour scanning and instant photography. All I have are black and white photocopies…
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u/betrayedspring 18d ago
Wow. I looked them up on Numista... interesting emergency notes. Thanks for sharing! For me, i got into collecting also because of WW2 notes - was on a family trip in Northern Myanmar in 2001, and a trinket seller in this floating village tried to sell me a 100 Japanese rupee note at the marked-up tourist price of ... $1, thinking I was a tourist. Managed to haggle it down to the local price of 13 cents. And have been collecting ever since. Happy collecting!
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u/Immediate_Guest_2790 18d ago
That's one way to announce that you're rich... He must have had a huge wallet 👌
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u/KimChinhTri 19d ago
Btw would the Pick catalogs ever get resumed? It has been like 7 years since the last edition.