Albert Pick
Encyclopedia
Albert Pick is a retired German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 numismatist
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...

. An internationally acknowledged specialist author on the subject of paper money
Money
Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...

, Pick wrote the first modern catalog of banknote
Banknote
A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...

s in 1974, and is widely credited with establishing the modern face of banknote collecting.
His Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
The Standard Catalog of World Paper Money is a well-known catalogue of banknotes that is published by Krause Publications in three volumes. These catalogues are commonly known in the numismatic trade as the Pick catalogues, as the numbering system was originally compiled by Albert Pick...

 is the standard reference work for banknote collectors worldwide.

Pick started a collection of banknotes in 1930. He later studied philosophy, literature and history, and by 1964, worked as the manager of a publishing house before dedicating himself to notaphily
Notaphily
Notaphily is the study of paper money or banknotes. A notaphilist is a collector of banknotes, paper money, paper currency or plastic notes.-History:It is believed that people have been collecting paper money for as long as it has been in use...

, the study of paper money, and becoming an acknowledged expert.

When his private collection of (at that time) 180,000 notes became too extensive for a private collector, Pick's collection was received by the Bavarian Mortgages and Exchange Bank (Bayerische Hypotheken- und Wechselbank, now HypoVereinsbank
HypoVereinsbank
UniCredit Bank Aktiengesellschaft is the sixth-largest private German financial institution, with a strong presence in Bavaria. The company is based in Munich, and together with Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Commerzbank and Deutsche Postbank, it belongs to the Cash Group...

). Pick continued to expand the collection between 1964 and 1985, as a curator in the service of the bank.

Albert lent his name to the Pick-numbers system, whereby collectors can unambiguously identify and catalogue each banknote.

Besides his best known work, the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, Pick published numerous books abroad and received several international prizes and honors for his publications.

He currently lives in retirement in Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a mountain resort town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region, and the district is on the border with Austria...

, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.
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