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An Interview with Mr Abdo Ayoub on Cgb.fr

| 02/02/2016
Numismatic news

Abdo Ayoub: the biggest collector of Lebanese banknotes in the world


How did you become a numismatist?
First of all, I’d like to underline the fact that one doesn’t become a numismatist, one is born a numismatist.

From a very young age, I felt I was a born collector. I always felt the crucial need to begin a new collection. In fact, I was only 9 years old when I started to collect all the issues of the magazine called “Tintin”, a weekly magazine which was an important part of my childhood. I wrote down carefully in a notebook all the titles of the stories in it in order to be able to find them later on if necessary.

At 15, I began to get interested in philately. It was during my spare time, which was more and more recurrent due to the civil war which devastated the country, that I built up my collection making it more substantial and complete.

In 1984, I became interested in numismatics and that became my greatest passion. Why? Well, because this field of activity didn’t only give me the opportunity of piecing together the Lebanese banknote archives, but also brought to the surface my vocation as a researcher, someone ready to delve into the far distant history of his country.


In your opinion, how can one define a collector?

A collector is a person who doesn’t need anyone else and who, once he has caught the virus, finds it very difficult to put an end to his passion. Whatever it is that he collects, it is above all a personal initiative, a leisure activity which grows and develops with the person and his centres of interest. A collector is someone who is engrossed in his own world every day and who gives life to his own objects, which can sometimes be his sole and unique company.


Do you think that there are different levels in collections, different categories of collectors?

I reckon that collectors can be put into 4 categories:

  • Collectors of beautiful works of art: these are art collectors who collect one painting after another, and one canvas after another.
  • Investment collectors: these are collectors who wait for the right time to sell their collections at a “profit”.
  • Research collectors: these are collectors who are immersed in their research and try to go further in looking for articles which haven’t as yet been found (this is my case).
  • Chaotic collectors: these are collectors who, unfortunately, keep everything they find without really knowing why.


In fact, is there a difference between the child collector, something we have all been, and the adult collector?

Of course there’s a difference. That goes without saying.

The child collector, thanks to his spontaneity and his wonder when he discovers the world, is open to everything that life can bring him. Whereas the adult collector, who has already acquired some experience in collecting, tries to specialize more in what he is looking for. He begins to think and tries to choose one of the four possibilities which are open to him. If he has the good idea of choosing a theme, I’d say he’s saved and that he’ll be able to go a long way in what he undertakes. If not, confusion will reign and he’ll give up very quickly as he won’t be able to control everything.


Do you collect with the same enthusiasm as when you began your collection?

At the beginning, you have a neophyte’s zeal. You think you can collect everything without restricting your enthusiasm but with time and age, you become aware of reality. That’s when you become more sensible and realize that you can’t do everything and succeed. What pushes us on and helps us persevere is above all the love we have for our collections. That’s the reason why we are always motivated.

 

Have you got an objective in numismatics?

My objective was to piece together the Lebanese banknote archives which used to be inexistent. In 2004, when my first book called La Monnaie du Liban (Lebanese Currency) was published, I achieved most of my main objective as I was able to decipher several tracks in the history of the Lebanese banknote. Today, this objective continues to be present in my life: in new issues there are always some unexplained elements. For example, replacement notes, limited-circulation issues, which the amateur or semi-professional collector cannot detect... My pleasure but also my duty, is to show them the way.

 

Has this objective changed over the years?

Yes, of course it has. After having finished this work, which in other terms was “the piecing together of the Lebanese banknote archives”, my aim was to get as many young people as possible interested in this passion, hence my new idea of creating booklets, enabling collectors not only to insert their own banknotes, but also to bring together information and technical data on currency at the time. By combining the useful with the agreeable, and by getting these young people involved by making them fill up their booklets, I think I will encourage them to want to know more about their own currency and this means going further than knowing about the history of their own country as I think – and I’m quite convinced – that currency leads you to know more about your own identity.

Why did you decide to write the book on Lebanese banknotes?

In fact, writing this book was neither my decision nor my initiative but that of a classmate I showed my collection to quite by chance. He said very spontaneously: “It’s a pity, really a pity to keep all that just for yourself. You must circulate it.” The classmate in question was Gérard Dahan, he was a publisher by profession and owned the publishing house Aleph. So he was the one who encouraged me to take the step, to sponsor this book, which moreover saw the light of day in his publishing house.


Is the investment dimension important for you?

Of course, with any collector there is always an investment dimension which is declared openly or hidden. The investment side, in my case, is not a priority as, in my opinion, there are different degrees in investment, ranging from the investor who wishes to reap the benefits of his assets before acquiring them – this is trade par excellence – to the collector who, one day, would like to offer his collection to a museum. As for me, I see myself as being much nearer the collector who is a donator. (But to be able to do that, you must be wealthy). I’d say that, in my case, the investment dimension is a very long-term view. It is only when I feel that I’ve reached a limit that I’ll think about putting my notes on the market.


Do you just collect Lebanese banknotes?

My nature, which pushes me to go as far as I possibly can in everything I undertake, stops me from collecting foreign banknotes. I just have Syrian banknotes from 1919 to 1939 in my collection, as the notes of these two countries came together under the French mandate. Didn’t we go from the Banque de Syrie (Bank of Syria), to the Banque de Syrie et du Grand-Liban (Bank of Syria and Greater Lebanon), to the Banque de Syrie et du Liban (Bank of Syria and the Lebanon) before arriving at the Banque du Liban (Bank of the Lebanon)? It is unthinkable for me to collect other banknotes as I find it difficult already to do all I want to do with the Lebanese banknote.


Are you still discovering things?

For 20 years, or more precisely from 1992 to 2012, there were very few discoveries. Indeed, from 2004 – the date my book was published – to 2012, that is to say over a period of 8 years, there was practically no evolution and nothing new was added to the discovery record of rare notes indicated in my book. It was only from 2013 onwards that we suddenly witnessed 3 important discoveries. What’s the reason for this? I’d say that it can be explained by the destruction of at least 30 % of the housing in Syria due to the devastation caused by the civil war. This explains the appearance of notes which would never have normally come to light.

 

What was the most important discovery?

Apart from the discoveries in Syria, an auction of nine 1925 banknotes – indicated in my book as being very rare - took place in Israel in 2012. The explanation given me was the following: it was a letter sent from Beirut to Tel Aviv in the 1930’s. At that time, the state of Israel hadn’t been created; the letter therefore went normally between the two capitals, both of which were at the forefront as far as trade was concerned. This letter, lost by its deceased addressee, was found by his grand-daughters 80 years later.

 

Have you already sold banknotes from your collection or are you a collector who keeps his doubles and triples meticulously...?

I’m a collector who keeps his doubles and triples meticulously. As I needed to finance my new research on Lebanese lottery tickets, a field of study which is still completely new and very interesting, I recently began selling a few banknotes if I have more than two copies of them.

 

When you consider the size of your collection, what do you feel?

That isn’t an easy question to answer and it gives me food for thought. A priori, I’d say that when I look at everything that still needs classifying in my library, I feel overwhelmed with some kind of fear: I realize that I need at least another 25 years to do it. Will I have the time to classify everything? If I’m realistic, I don’t think that I’ll be given all that time…

On the other hand, I’m really proud today of all I’ve accomplished and of all the knowledge I’ve acquired over the years. This is a very personal source of satisfaction.

 

Today, what do you think about your collection?

I’ve been collecting stamps and banknotes for 30 years now. I never thought it could be a source of income one day. Everything began in a rather chaotic and rash way. But now I see more clearly, I realize that it is an important source of income that I must take advantage of while I’m alive as, unless things change, there is no one around me who might be interested in what I leave behind later on. This is what gave rise one day to the idea of the booklets, which, I hope, will be an opening to many other people who follow on. Sharing one’s knowledge and learning is for me one of the most satisfying things any individual can do.

 

What is your vision of the future concerning the activity of collecting banknotes? What do you think of the Lebanese banknote market?

Most young people are too taken up with the virtual world, internet in particular, and are not interested in beginning a collection. At the same time it is this same virtual world which has opened the borderless universe of e-business. Today, the future is more accessible for amateurs and makes the collector’s research easier.

To come back to the Lebanese market, it’s a very interesting field and, for someone with my knowledge who wants to share it with professionals and experienced amateurs, the field is vast. It’s an unfathomable source. I hope I’ll be able to transmit my passion. I also hope the future will prove me right.

 

Is the Lebanese banknote influenced by the political events in the region?

It is obvious that in the Lebanon the market is very limited and easily influenced. As it is a small country, everything is blown up: in a period of prosperity, the price of land, flats, shares on the Stock Exchange, and banknote collections go quite mad. In periods of economic crisis, the price of banknotes plummets. All you have to do is look at the latest changes in the price of the 100L (1945) banknote, one of the most beautiful notes in the world, used on the cover of my book and described inside on page 185. 5 years ago, collectors were all trying to get one and were willing to pay up to 14,000 euros. Today, you can find one of these notes for 7,000 euros.


Did the fact that the Banque de France (Bank of France) made the old Lebanese issues influence your desire to collect?

Not really. My collector’s temperament flouts the beauty of the notes. What attracts me are the issues, the special numbers, the replacement notes, double prefixes, etc. This said and done, in the Lebanon, for me and those around me, the Banque de France banknotes remain unanimously the most beautiful ones ever issued, above all in the period from the beginning of the 20th century until 1950.


If you had to choose one banknote in your collection… which one would you choose?

The obvious answer would be the 250L (1939) note issued by the Banque de France. But it is so popular and so much in demand that, for me, it has lost its charm. I’d probably choose the 50L note (1939) from the same series only one of which exists today.

 

What’s the most unusual thing you have done to obtain a note for your collection?

I’m a collector who collects the prefixes of notes which aren’t rare. For example, to have the complete collection of the 1L note (1964), you need to have 324 different notes. Today, I still need 5. So to get a number which I haven’t got, I’m ready to give ten notes of the same kind of an “uncirculated” quality as well as payment in money and, if necessary, some notes which are even better listed. Everything depends on how greedy the seller is.

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