Bangladesh Takas

I was in Bangladesh last week. Bangladesh is the 29th or 30th country that I have evern been to and its currency is one which I have never collected before. During the transit to Dhaka, I went to a money changer near Mustafa Centre in Singapore and I managed to get a number of 500 Taka notes like this one:

500 Taka note. That hole on the right side occurs on every single 500 Taka note that I have.

All the notes have the same holes. I was quite intrigued and of course that's the first question I asked when I was in Dhaka. Apparently the hole is caused by banks which punched through a set of notes and bind them together using a piece of string. If the note is new, the hole is hardly visible but with wear and tear, the holes got bigger. The other thing I also found is that people like to write on the notes.

1000 Taka note. That same hole also appears on this 1000 Taka note plus additional staple notes.

Later on I managed to acquire this newer 1000 Taka note from our diplomatic mission's staff. At first glance, it looks okay. A closer examination will show the same hole and slightly torn and plus additional staple holes.

I tried purchasing older Bangaldeshi notes in Dhaka. I was told that this was not possible as most of the older notes are withdrawn and demonetise. I have to get them on the internet now.