A rare banknote can be found not only at an auction; it can appear in change from a store, emerge from an ATM, or fall into one's hands at a bank teller. One of the most expensive examples is the commemorative 50-hryvnia banknote from 2011, "20 years" of independence: in the collector's market, it costs over 100,000 hryvnias, which is up to 2,000 times its face value.
This was stated by Vitaliy Hashchak, president of the Ukrainian branch of the International Bank Note Society (IBNS), in an interview with RBC-Ukraine on August 12, 2026. According to him, numismatists mostly collect thematic collections, so there is no single "most valuable" banknote that everyone would hunt for: everyone looks for their own.
The value depends on the rarity, condition, and specifics of a particular issue. A separate category is banknotes marked "Sample": they were not put into circulation but were used for training bank employees and demonstrating new emissions.
Which serial numbers interest collectors
Low serial numbers - from 000000001 to 000000100.
Numbers where all digits are the same, for example, 777777777.
Numbers with a sequence of digits, for example, 123456.
Banknotes with manufacturing defects are also valued: misaligned printing, inverted elements, absence of individual ink colors. Such errors are rare, hence their value. Commemorative issues and banknotes withdrawn from circulation and available in very limited quantities are considered collectible.
Banknotes from the times of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the period of German occupation can cost from 2,000 to 15,000 euros, but only rare specimens, not all banknotes from those eras.
To understand whether a banknote is worth a collector's attention, Hashchak advises checking several things:
series and serial number - especially low, identical, or sequential digits;
manufacturing defects: misaligned printing, inverted elements;
the "Sample" mark;
year and specifics of the issue;
physical condition - the better preserved, the more interesting;
whether it is a limited or commemorative edition.
However, an unusual number or an old year alone does not guarantee a price of tens of thousands of hryvnias. The final value is determined by the rarity of a specific specimen and demand among collectors - the face value here is only a starting point.
Source: RBC
