SIBU, Sept 28: There are more and more people looking for and investing in old bank notes in hopes that they could be sold for high prices in the future, says Sarawak Philatelic and Numismatic Society president John Goh.
“Some of these investors are middle-aged people who have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic are now buying old bank notes as they have enough savings. They are doing this as an investment,” he said when met today.
Goh, 73, added that with the ringgit continuing to lose its value against the greenback and low interest rates, these people are finding it more worthwhile to go for old bank notes.
“Our ringgit is going down and if they keep their money in the bank, they could also not get good returns due to low interest rates. So they are going for old bank notes as they possibly earn some money from selling them later,” he said.
Singling out gold coins, Goh, who has been collecting these items which include old phonecards and stamps, said the value of gold coins is always on the uptrend.
“If you have savings in the bank, it is better to go for gold coins as it will never lose its value as the price of gold is on the upswing,” he emphasised.
However, it is the complete opposite for phonecards, as the public’s interest in collecting old phonecards have waned.
“Phonecards have ceased to exist as they are not in use now since mobile phones came into being. So the hobby of collecting phonecards has become extinct,” he said.
Goh himself boasts a collection of over 30,000 pieces of such phonecards which were issued by Ring Ring, Uniphone and Time Telekom.
“I was lucky to be able to dispose of 10,000 pieces at 80 sen each recently. A friend one day called me up saying that he wants phonecards for his project,” he said.
Of all the phonecards in his collection, he said those from Japan are the most unique due to pictures of insects, animals and fishes, where some are very rare.
“At one time many years ago, I held an exhibition on phone cards, and children who were brought by their parents were very fascinated by these rare phonecards from Japan as they have never seen pictures of such animals and insects,” he said. — DayakDaily
