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Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Sunday News Reporter
THE bearer cheques are back! A craze for the old bearer cheques has hit the country, with local note collectors paying substantial United States dollars for the notes which they in turn sell to numismatists outside the country.
Numismatists are students or collectors of coins, bank notes and other payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods. A snap survey by Sunday News in Bulawayo’s Central Business District showed that the bearer cheque notes that were phased out seven years ago were now in demand.
In Harare, note collectors are operating along Jason Moyo Avenue, between Third and Fourth Streets. Bearer cheques were in circulation at the height of hyper inflation in the country but were phased out in 2009 following the adoption of the multi-currency system.
The notes now fetch more than what the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) paid out during the demonetisation of the Zimbabwean dollar earlier this year. Denominations that are in demand among note collectors are the 500 million, 50 trillion and 100 trillion dollar notes. Note collectors pay as much as $8 for one 100 trillion dollar note, $2 for the 50 trillion dollar note and 25 cents for the 500 million dollar note.
The notes are believed to be fetching a lot as collectors’ items on online market places such as e-Bay.
On e-Bay the 1 000 trillion dollar note is fetching as much as $64 and the 50 trillion dollar note $39, while the 500 million dollar note fetches $8.
The RBZ offered 40 cents for 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars, 20 cents for 50 trillion Zimbabwe dollars, 8 cents for 20 trillion Zimbabwe dollars and 4 cents for 10 trillion Zimbabwe dollars. A note collector from Bulawayo who declined to be named said business was good as a number of people still had their old bearer cheques.
The note collector, who is based at Zonkizizwe Complex in Bradfield, has engaged a number of agents who are dotted around the CBD collecting the notes on his behalf. He explained how the bearer cheques have attracted so much attention from numismatists around the world.
“The 100 trillion dollar note is considered as the highest denomination to have ever been printed by a country that is not at war. That’s basically how these notes have gained traction on the market all over the world. “Business is good, one can’t complain. Look, this is something that I do on part time to help other people earn a bit of cash,” he said.
The note collector described his work as social entrepreneurship, which he said aims to help people who lost their hard earned cash due to hyper inflation and the subsequent adoption of the US dollar.
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