There has been a proliferation of "Fantasy Banknotes" appearing in dealer inventory and on Ebay. It started a number of years ago with Antarctica banknotes which were issued in various denominations and series. I thought these were quite innocent as the notes featured various historical figures and geographical features which were rather educational. I'm sure there were previous examples such as Salt Spring Island Banknotes ...but even these had cash value in Salt Spring Island.
More recently I have seen fantasy notes for sale from: The Arctic Territories, Atlantic Forest (Aves), Kingdom of Kamberra (Numismas), La Savannah (Francs), Federation of North America (Ameros), El banco del Cabo Dakhla (pesetas), Banque des EQUATORIAL TERRITORIES (Equatorial Francs), North Carolina, Rhode Island and Vermont (State Dollars), Colombia Medellin (Cafeteros), Russia (rubles), Jurassic Bank (din), Vulcania (euro), Perish Island - Indamentum Bank (corals), El Club De La Moneda (dracones), Mujand Republic (Zilchi), Antnapolistan (Dinar), Ice Age (Ice Dollars) and there are others.
More significantly there are also fantasy bank notes from existing countries. These include: Bank of Zambia (Kwacha), Somaliland (Shillings)
Greenland (Kroner), Andorra (Pessetes), France (Francs), Austria (shillings), Israel (New Shekels) and others.
On e-bay these fantasy banknotes are integrated into the world paper money section, and I am certain these are confusing to young collectors. A few years ago I got sucked into the Somaliland notes, and purchased a regular and a replacement note thinking they were legit. Once I get some other opinions on this matter, I would like to write to e-bay to request a different category for fantasy notes.
Thanks
Michael Z.
Canadian Paper Money
