The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V28 2025 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 18, 2025, Article 23

MONEY EXCHANGES REJECTING CHOPMARKED BILLS

Kavan Ratnatunga writes:

"On the same line, banknotes with tiny chopmarks which were discussed a few years ago are now hard to exchange in Asia. Banks accept them for deposit and issue them, but Asian Money Exchanges reject them. In Sri Lanka, they are discounted by 5 to 10%."

  australia $100 dollar banknote with chopmark stamp

An Aussie travelling through Thailand has discovered his money was practically worthless thanks to a tiny detail. While rips and tears can sometimes reduce the value of notes, a mark meant to verify legitimate notes could have been to blame for the awkward situation.

Peter Fuller was left scratching his head when he tried to get some local currency on his trip. He asked people on social media if they knew why he was knocked back.

"Went to exchange AUS currency for Thai baht in Thailand and they rejected this note because of this little blue stamp, anyone got any idea why?" he said on Facebook.

Thailand has very strict rules on the type of currency it accepts, according to Wise, and it will turn away any notes that have been "defaced" or "damaged". Travellers have been warned to bring only "crisp" and "clean" notes if they want to get them exchanged for local currency.

In this case, the teller at the currency exchange might have looked at the blue stamp as being defaced and rejected it.

This has stung other travellers in the past, with people posting online how they had notes knocked back because of random markings you'd normally not even notice.

To read the complete article, see:
Man discovers $100 note was 'worthless' due to tiny detail (https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/man-discovers-100-note-was-worthless-due-to-tiny-detail-040232359.html)

How ironic - a stamp meant to attest to authenticity is causing banknotes to be discounted or rejected. -Editor

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
CHOPMARKS ON MODERN U.S. PAPER MONEY (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n07a21.html)
MORE CHOPMARKS ON MODERN U.S. PAPER MONEY (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n08a08.html)
MORE CHOPS ON MODERN U.S. PAPER MONEY (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n12a15.html)
MORE CHOP MARKS ON PAPER MONEY (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n32a05.html)

Garrett Mid-American E-Sylum ad09 Time to Sell



Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V28 2025 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2023 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin