George J Sten (2017)

was without doubt a true pioneer in the study of world paper money. His single-volume Encyclopedia of World Paper Money published in 1965 was a tremendous step forward into the understanding of what it was to collect world currencies.

Step two in the development of the understanding of paper currencies took shape with Sten’s multi-volume book Banknotes of the World. Volumes One and Two both came out in 1967; the first covering Aden to China, the second from Colombia through Kuwait. In the planning stages were Volumes Three and Four, but unfortunately Sten died later in 1967 and those last two were never finished.

As a multilingual scholar, he was ableto provide invaluable reference tables in non-Roman scripts and many languages for early participants in the nascent field of notaphily.His ability to present comprehensive listings of notes innon-Roman scripts opened vast fields for interested collectors.

Sten had a wide following in the nascent paper money field. Collectors and dealers would call him regularly to ask him for an opinion as to rarity and value before they would buy or sell notes they thought might have significant value. His untimely death at about age 65 brought an abrupt end to his research and deprived him of achieving an even higher rank in the annals of world paper pioneers.