What can I do with notes from Germany, France?

jenjade

Hi,

I have been given a pot of money from abroad and was wondering if the notes can be converted into English money or not? The money is quite a large sum ( although it depends on exchange rates)

I have 190 deutsche mark (German notes)
900 banque de france (french notes)
and 200 schilling oesterreichische (notes)

as well and a container of change
if it cannot be change or is worthless i will save it and e bay it one day.

Does anyone know what i can do with it or have any suggestions

Thanks for reading.

omelette451

It can probably be changed at the national banks of the countries in question (i.e. in Paris, etc.). Possibly you could sell it to someone but you wouldn't get anywhere near the full value. I'd consider giving it to charity - there are people who specialise in taking donations such as these.

[Deleted User]

jenjade wrote: »

I have 190 deutsche mark (German notes)
900 banque de france (french notes)
and 200 schilling oesterreichische (notes)

You can exchange your notes at TTT Moneycorps BdC's in both Gatwick and Stansted airports where you'll get a relatively decent exchange rate. Best thing would be changing them in their respective central banks. Note that France does not accept coins anymore but Germany and Austria do.

never_enough

I was recently given 6000 francs, so had the same problem.
You can change French francs at the Banque de France, there are several branches throughout France. Some notes are no longer exchangeable, but you can find full details here. Most still have about 3 years to be changed & as previous poster says it is notes only.
http://www.banque-france.fr/ [this can, very helpfully, be read in English if you click the tab on the top right ]

never_enough

Someone also told me about this company that buy out of date currency, but I have had no dealings with them myself so dont know about the exchange rates or anything

http://www.crowncurrencyexchange.com/

[Deleted User]

never_enough wrote: »

Someone also told me about this company that buy out of date currency, but I have had no dealings with them myself so dont know about the exchange rates or anything

http://www.crowncurrencyexchange.com/

Here's their awful exchange rates from December last year:

***************************************************

Dear Mr XXXXXXXXXXXXXX,


Here are our rates for some old currencies

Austrian Shilling 34.1252
Belgian Franc 100.0428
Dutch Guilders 5.4652
Finnish Markka 14.7452
French Franc 16.2672
German Marks 4.85
Greek Drachma 845.04
Irish Punts 1.9528
Italian Lira 4800
Luxembourg Francs 100
Portuguese Escudos 497.192
Spanish Pesatas 412.63
Cypriot Pounds 1.4512
Maltese Lira 1.064
Slovenian Tolar 594.307


***************************************************



Their rates are horrendous for old expired currencies.
TTT in Gatwick and Stansted will buy them at a much better rate.
Travelex usually accepts them as well.

Originally Posted by travellingbum
Let's say you have 1000 French francs you wish to convert into euros. Best option is, if you travel to France often, is to change them at a branch of Banque de France.(The French Central Bank.) There your 1000FRF will get you 152.45 € (fixed rate of 6.55957 FRFto 1€) or the equivalent of £137.34 using a conversion rate of 1.11 euros to the £.

Secondly, you can opt to change your francs in a Travelex branch in the UK. Here your 1000FRF will get you £108.27, BEFORE any commission is deducted.(£3, I believe.)


The third and least attractive option is changing your francs with Crown Currency Exchange where 1000FRF will only get you £61.47!!!
That's LESS THAN HALF of what what you get in France and almost £50 less than Travelex. Now, I don't usually promote Travelex but in this case I'll make an exception.

I get the impression CCE is very good when it comes to exchanging major current currencies, but they are taking advantage when it comes to exchanging legacy currencies, most of which are still redeemable. Many people are not aware of this fact, let alone the exchange rates for these old currencies. In most cases the old currencies are redeemable until and including February 2012.

Another earlier thread:

Expired 31/01/09:
If you possess the older series of the French 'Delacroix' 100 franc banknote(s), unfortunately they're worthless now as they could only be redeemed by the Central Bank of France (Banque de France) until 31/01/2009.



*************************************************


I went to France end of January and exchanged 2450 french francs into 373.50 euros. I flew to Basel on the Swiss side and then took a train to Mulhouse, half an hour's journey by train.
Luckily there were no bank strikes on the 28/01. If you possess the depicted above 100 franc banknote, unfortunately now they're worthless, unless they're in pristine condition for collectors.
Anyway I had 9 of the old 100 francs that expired 31/01/09, so it was in the nick of time.

omelette451

travellingbum wrote: »

I flew to Basel on the Swiss side and then took a train to Mulhouse, half an hour's journey by train.

Just for information if you ever do the same thing again...
The airport is actually situated in France, between Basle and Mulhouse (there's a fenced-off road leading straight to Switzerland), and the airport is split in two. If you'd crossed directly into the French side after landing you could have got a bus directly from the airport to Mulhouse, thus saving the need to get the train back out of Switzerland.

[Deleted User]

omelette451 wrote: »

Just for information if you ever do the same thing again...
The airport is actually situated in France, between Basle and Mulhouse (there's a fenced-off road leading straight to Switzerland), and the airport is split in two. If you'd crossed directly into the French side after landing you could have got a bus directly from the airport to Mulhouse, thus saving the need to get the train back out of Switzerland.

I arrived late in the evening on a Ryanair flight. I booked one night in YMCA in Basel as I had 1,700CHF+ in coins (almost 9 kilos) besides my 2,450FRF in paper money. First thing next morning, I went into a bank there and exchanged the coins into CHF notes. Afterwards I took a train to Mulhouse where I exchanged my french francs notes into euros. That trip got me around £1,400+ in total.:D


Another place to avoid changing your legacy currencies, is this place:

http://www.thecurrencycommission.com/fxrates.html

1,000FRF will get you just under £80, almost as bad as Crown Currency Exchange!!!

[Deleted User]

http://www.thecurrencycommission.com/fxrates.html

1,000FRF will get you just under £80, almost as bad as Crown Currency Exchange!!!