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I've been lurking and watching this board before posting for a couple of months now. I'm about as new as new can be to this hobby. Been actively collecting for about 3 months now, but have always enjoyed paper money. My first goal was simply to get one good example Modified to Present up to $20. Along the way, I found that I like RADAR bills. From and enjoyment value RADAR bills are great, but that brings me to my question. With the large amount of Journey RADAR bills available on E Bay, Yahoo Actions, dealer sites, etc, will the value of these bills hold. Hasn't stopped me from putting together a series of Journey RADARs 5 to 100, with both 10's.

Any other suggestions for a newbie would be greatly appreciated.

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and welcome to the forum

Welcome new member!

I agree with CDN guy... paper money is a hobby that just keeps on growing.  This is evident at any coin show where there's hardly a dealer who doesn't have a showcase of great notes for sale.  Even the Canadian Coin News is beginning to put articles in about notes (with articles by Kari McCormick) and others.  You will also see dealers offering catalogue and above for notes.  National auctions often show high grade old notes outperform coins (and sell beyond expectations).

Despite the large quantities of radars you see, it is unlikely that their market value will drop.  The only notes that may appreciate slightly are the more common, run of the mill notes.  You are wise to get into radars and would do well to think about collecting special serial numbers (low numbers, repeaters, ascending solid and 2 digit, errors) and replacements (which now a days are special serial number ranges since that is the only way one can tell a replacement from an ordinary note).  The common notes are collected by novice collectors (or dabblers) but should be collected in AU to UNC condition.  Eventually, many novice collectors want to become more avid collectors and the only way to do that is to seek the truly rare, and interesting serial numbers.  Rare prefixes, change-over (when a signature or printing date is changed in a specific prefix) are also notes you will want to seek.    Once a collector has some experience and decides to get more into it, he/she either seeks all the prefixes, (a prefix collector), or decides to collect the more rare/scarce Dominion, Charter, and oher seldom sold notes (in any grade).  That's when the hobby becomes a bit more than a hobby (lets say a passion!)....and well... I'll turn this thread over to those who can attest to that level of collecting...

Anyway.... Welcome to the forum and good luck hunting for those special notes!
James  

I appreciate the welcomes. As Cdn_Guy pointed out, the price paid for RADAR notes is not that important, as I haven't had to refinance the home (yet) to purchase them. Although my wife does think I'm crazy though. It's about the chase. It's about the seeing a group of them together. Yes I've tried to get AU/UNC for the commmon notes, but I'm keeping to a very limited budget. The cost of certain notes blows me away.  Good examples being AU/UNC 1972/1979 $5 notes, or the RCMP $50 (my personal fav).

I can't get them all now (I'd like to), so I do need to think long term. I do need to get to a coin store, or to one of the shows I've read about on this site. Being in Sudbury makes it kind of hard, no coins shops that I am aware of.

My next real task is to learn to grade paper properly. I have limited experience with hockey cards and comic books, so I don't think it will be too much of a stretch.

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I recommend you make it to a coin show if (when) there's 1 in your area.  There is a "Trading Post" here which I believe is mostly used by trustworthy members...I've bougth a few with known (novice to senior) members.  And try eBay...just be sure they have good feedback (no 0 or low # transactions for experience), that the note is clearly scanned (over photograph), so that you have a good idea of what you're buying.  In order to get most out of the hobby, you may wish to buy multiple lots or sequences of 2 or 4 (& more) notes and then sell off a few to make up for your investment.  (Some purist may wince at the sight of me recommending selling sequential notes but there's only 3 places per page, and we often have only so much room in our binders!)  These are some of things that I know many collectors do to afford this hobby.  Now Olmstead, JB, Gatewest and other dealers are also offering online auctions or sales.
Good luck!

PS:
One word of caution: at shows or in stores -- you do not have to pay the listed price on the note.  Make an offer.  Most dealers (and collectors) are negotiable about their prices (depending on the quality/scarcity of the note of course!)  Often a price is what they would like to get...but most know that its not written in stone.

The cost of certain notes blows me away.  Good examples being AU/UNC 1972/1979 $5 notes, or the RCMP $50 (my personal fav).

I've found that the Charlton price for the 1975 $50's are higher than what they actually sell for, at least when buying on eBay.  Case in point: I bought an AU Lawson-Bouey 2 letter prefix 50 for $100 (shipping included) when it booked at $150.  I bought an UNC Lawson-Bouey 3 letter prefix 50 for $190 (shipping and all) when it booked for $275.  I've found the 1972 $5 notes VERY hard to find in UNC on eBay or in local coin shops where I live in Toronto.

I've come to rely exclusively on eBay because I have found that overgrading and overpricing are MORE common with brick-and-mortar shops than with eBay, and to top it off the stores charge PST and/or GST!  I refuse to pay tax on money!!  (I know - it's heresy to consider collectable banknotes as "money", but that's all it is to the government)

I have bought about 70-80 notes on eBay and have had only 2 really unpleasant experiences.  Aside from these 2, some of the notes I got were overgraded, but I factor overgrading into my bid amount, for example if a note is listed as being in UNC, I will bid as if it is AU or AU-.  Another tip for eBay buying is to make your purchases just after Christmas when everyone is broke.  You can get some really good deals that time of year.

hanmer, we're not allowed to post names of eBay members to this forum, but if you would like send me a PM and I can tell you a few eBay sellers I have dealt with who I find very trustworthy with their grading.

Regards,
venga50.

Welcome Hanmer ... I too am fairly new to paper money collecting. As a child I collected collected coins but teenage years , marriage and family life took all my" spare change " till a couple years past. I got back into it but this time with the numbers. My wife thinks I am crazy for looking at every note that I come close to. I even have my friends looking for me  . I personally like coin shows for buying stuff , however I do purchase some stuff from the forum and from ebay. Make sure you read the listings correctly (feedback , shipping , serial number listed , etc) and grade for yourself. I agree to under grade the note for you bidding maximum and always ask questions. It is a good hobby and unlike hockey cards and comic books I believe this type of collecting will return a profit in years to come. Best of luck !

Welcome to the site, and welcome to posting on the site!  
Nice work on the radars  Those are my favorite too. The key is collect what you like and what makes you happy.  And, those things will be rewarding in satisfaction, and in investment in most cases.  
There is tons of info on this site too, and alot of the most upto date info imaginable, so it is really good to be out here. Glad you could join us.  

Huds