Show Me the Money

BY Ann All
The cliché "one man's trash is another man's treasure" is hackneyed to be sure -- but true in the case of Jim Noll, a retired ATM service technician who has accumulated an impressive collection of test currency.

Noll has filled five hefty albums -- the same kind used by philatelists to hold their stamps -- with more than 600 test notes in the dozen years since he caught the currency collecting bug. ATM folks are more used to seeing the "money" Noll covets in trash cans, atop ATMs or in other odd nooks where trade show attendees have discarded it. Flipping through Noll's albums is like taking a crash course in ATM history.

Gone but not forgotten - Among the manufacturers represented are Docutel, Burroughs and Mosler -- now-defunct companies that are fondly remembered by many ATM buffs for their early machines.

Jim Noll shows off some prize notes from his ATM test collection, which includes more than 600 notes.

Noll also has notes from such oddities as Transaction Technology Incorporated (TTI), a research-and-development division of Citicorp that built proprietary touchscreen machines for Citibank using parts from a variety of vendors; and TRW-Fujitsu, an early joint venture to market and service Fujitsu ATMs in the U.S.

The TTI notes carry a bit of sentimental value for Noll, who said he installed some of its first machines in the San Diego, Calif., area in the early 1980s.

Noll also has a few of what were called "greenback checks," the vouchers dispensed by early De La Rue-designed ATMs that bank customers then exchanged for cash. The logo on the notes contained a small amount of radioactive ink, Noll said, and Geiger counters were used to validate the notes' authenticity.

Perhaps not surprising for a company that also prints real currency, many of the De La Rue notes in Noll's collection are especially striking (and expensive to produce, Noll said); some even feature engraving. A sought-after De La Rue set is the "pioneers" series, which features elaborate depictions of frontier life, Noll said.

Other companies represented include InterBold, the former IBM/Diebold joint venture, and IBM itself, from the time "when the (IBM) 3624 (ATM) was king," Noll said.

Some notes obviously date from the '70s, with colors and fonts as "retro" as green shag carpeting. Noll said these notes were used by banks in an attempt to familiarize users with the still-new ATM. Bank employees would guide wary users through test transactions at lobby machines loaded with the currency, which carried phrases like "Get your money whenever you need it" and "Bank any time, day or night, weekends or holidays."

One NCR set from 1978 features caricatures which Noll said were supposedly based on company executives. NCR test notes from the early '90s featured an AT&T logo -- a reminder of the ill-fated merger between the two technology companies.

Noll, a 67-year-old San Diego resident, began collecting test currency while employed by a division of NCR that was purchased by Wells Fargo and later became Loomis Fargo. In addition to ATMs, he said he's serviced computers, data entry systems and mail handling equipment.

Another note from Noll's collection.

An inveterate collector, Noll also hoards casino chips, uncashed money orders and U.S. postal notes from the late 1800s. He expects his obsessions to grow, following his November retirement.

"It keeps me off the street and out of trouble," he said.

While he won't spend more than $4 to $5 for an individual test currency note, Noll said he's spent up to $200 for a money order from the 1800s. Like most collectibles, test currency is hawked on eBay, Noll said. Diebold and NCR also sell it via their Web sites - at about 4 cents a pop - although it's only available in large volumes.

"One person will buy a pack, keep some and trade the rest to get some of the currency they want from other collectors," Noll said.

Trading paper

Trading is a time-honored tradition among collectors. That's why Noll relishes events like BAI's Retail Delivery Show, where he can grab handfuls of cash from all of the major vendors as well as lesser-known companies. "I got 400 pieces in 45 minutes" at the 2001 RDS in Anaheim, Calif., he said.

As new ATM transactions are created, Noll said that test sheets of stamps, money orders and other items are starting to appear, opening up a whole new avenue of collecting.

Test currency devotees are a relatively rare breed. Noll estimated that there are perhaps 100 around the world, many of whom also collect real currency. Nine dealers are listed on an ATM test notes discussion area of the eBoard Web site. "There aren't enough of us to have a convention," he said, noting that collectors stay in touch via e-mail.

Noll is currently working with three other collectors -- from the U.S., the Netherlands and Slovakia -- to compile a test currency catalog. It will feature color images of currency, along with details such as the available denominations and size of logos. Noll said they hope to publish it and sell it to other collectors for "a reasonable price" such as $30 or $40. Noll has both editions of an earlier German catalog of test currency, which he used to help organize his collection.

Another goal is to obtain sets of the European currencies that were replaced by the euro. "It's now or never," Noll said, noting that he is trading with overseas collectors who have discovered caches of the pre-euro currency in attics, car trunks and other forgotten nooks.

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