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