... No 'unknowns' for quite a while. I have too many reference books and the internet now. I may run across something I have to research a day or two maybe but not anything that stumped me like I used to get.

MANY YEARS AGO...I had a note that a friend gave me that he found floating in a lake connected to a sea port where many foreign ships pass. It was definitely Chinese and was in NO books anywhere. It was a Hell Banknote, I figured Hell was pronounced differently or meant something else than hell as we understand and the spelling was just coincidence. I asked dealers, other collectors, anyone to no avail. It became a personal challenge! I was still young and living at home when we went to a Chinese restaurant where I asked if they could read Chinese (of course they could) so the next day I had my dad drive me back there with the note. And learned all about Chinese Hell Money! It is money used in ceremonies for the dead to pay their way out of hell. It was not real money but since I had held it for five years or so it was never coming out of my collection! I had been well duped by this note! (Here is the actual note...)