I am not a fan of Malaysia Fancy Number Banknote but many of my Malaysian friends collect them. In Malay, they called it as "wang kertas nombor siri cantik" or “Special Serial Numbered Currency”.
Some banknote collectors are specialize in collecting banknotes with unusual or fancy serial numbers. Most of my friends start their fancy banknote collection from notes that they find in circulation. Buying a notes like this sometime can be very expensive and it is not easy to sell them next time.
If you're newbies in fancy notes collecting, make sure you study the price of the notes very well. The banknote condition also play a role to determine the banknote price. Buy only Uncirculated banknotes to make sure a high Return of Investment in the future. Here are some list for newbies to understand, what kind of fancy numbers they should be looking for.
Solid
AA8888888, AA7777777 or AA1111111 is a solid numbers, its happen when all the serial number are the same. This is the most sought after fancy category and most of the time are very rare to find people want to sell their solid number collection. Near solid number is when one number is different from the other numbers, for example, AA8888188.
Solid Number "8" get the high demand because Chinese all over this world consider 8 as a lucky number. Solid number "0" most of the time is for a specimen banknotes.
Solid Number "8" get the high demand because Chinese all over this world consider 8 as a lucky number. Solid number "0" most of the time is for a specimen banknotes.
Low Serial
Normally, a serial number under 100 (AA0000100), is a little bit hard to get. Unless you have a connection with Bank Negara Malaysia. The lowest serial number for the first prefix (AA0000001) most of the time is given to Malaysia Sultan or Agong as a gift.
High Serial
Another fancy serial that you should be looking for is the High serial numbers for example AA10000000 or AA9999900 and 100 number above.
Ladder
Another rare and sought after numbers is a ladder, serial number with ascending or descending digits, for example AA1234567 or AA7654321. Some people also collect partial ladder banknote, for example AA0234567, AA3123456 or AA0765432.
Binary
AA0000099 can also be categorize as Binary, a notes with two unique digits. Other Binary Numbers example are AA9919199, AA5535535, AA4555544.
TrinaryA trinary number notes is when the banknote contain 3 unique digits, for example AA3355544, AA1122331 or AA0322023.
Radar
Radar number is when the serial number are the same forward or backward, For example AA0322032, AA1232321 or AA3351533.
Repeater
This happen when a sequence of numbers repeat itself in the prefix, for example AA1212121, AA6767676 or AA5050505.
Radar Repeater
A radar repeater is both a radar and a repeater, for example AA1008001, AA6007006 or AA5050505.
Bookends
The serial numbers have the same sequence of digits at both ends. For example AA2084520, "20" is the sequence of digits appearing at both the beginning and end of the serial number.
Birthday
You can also find someone birthday to keep it in your fancy number collection. For example, our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib birth is 23 July 1953, you can try find notes with prefix AA2371925. It will be easy to find buyer if you can find a birthday number banknote related to celebrity.
Most of the time, collectors are looking for solid numbers and Ladder. You can buy KN Boon book; KN Boon 6th Edition Book as a guide for Malaysia solid serial numbers banknotes.
I am not a collector of fancy number banknote, please correct me if I had done some mistake in this article.
