Changing unusal currencies

[Hairy]

Due to airlines messing me around, I have ended up with just under a hundred quids worth of unneeded Guyanese Dollars.

Any tips of how best to change these back into mainstream currencies? Ideally UK£ but equally happy with euros or USD.

TIA

Hairy

[AleisterCrowley]

I'd expect a hefty fee to change at the bank.
Perhaps try to find a Guyanese shop/restaurant. They may have staff who head back home occasionally ,who could give you a better rate.
Or they may let you buy some excellent Guyanese rum

[GoSeigen]

unusal currencies

Did you mean "unusable" or "unusual"? Or is it a novel coinage to mean both

I'll get me coat...


GS

[JMN2]

Try to lure one of your friends or relatives to have a holiday in wonderful Guyana.

[AleisterCrowley]

Slightly o/t, but surprising how many people think Guyana is an island in the West Indies
Or perhaps not, given that it's culturally 'Carribean'. I've always fancied a visit, when I get over my fear of flying...

[gryffron]

It may not be what you had in mind, but charity shops (eg Oxfam) will take them off you. They'll take any currency, even non-exchangeable ones and coins. They send them back to the country of origin to be used for charitable works. Worth it if they can collect enough of any currency.

Gryff

[paulnumbers]

I'm not usually beaten by something like this, but I can't find anywhere in the UK.

I suppose you could hang around outside the embassy and try to sell it to some friendly visiting diplomatic staff

http://www.guyanahclondon.co.uk/

Guyana High Commission
3 Palace Court
Bayswater Road
London
W2 4LP

[Maroochydore]

You could try the Bank of Baroda. A few London branches plus Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester https://www.bankofbarodauk.com/contact- ... in-office/ as they are also one of the major banks in Guyana (because of the large Indian ethnicity at 40% of the population).

They may be able to help.

[bionichamster]

I'm not usually beaten by something like this, but I can't find anywhere in the UK.

I suppose you could hang around outside the embassy and try to sell it to some friendly visiting diplomatic staff

http://www.guyanahclondon.co.uk/

Guyana High Commission
3 Palace Court
Bayswater Road
London
W2 4LP

Alternatively why not e-mail the embassy and see if they can recommend somewhere in the UK to change them, of all the people in the UK their staff are the most likely to know, butter them up first with praise about what a wonderful trip you had.


BH

[robbelg]

How about listing them on ebay?

Rob

[Hairy]

+1 charity donation.

My local UK bank branch has a collection box for oddments of foreign currency on behalf of a worthy cause, Water Aid or World Vision, can't remember which. As I do a fair bit of travel I often end up with petty cash or change in odd currencies. It is quicker and more satisfying to donate it than have to faff about trying to exchange it.

If it was a tenner's worth for sure, but hundred quid is just a bit too generous for me

[richlist]

I wouldn't trust any of the major banks to handle charity donations honestly. Some of the stories in the last few years give me no confidence in being able to trust them.

When I give to charity i prefer to make the gift directly.

[dealtn]

Marginally off-topic (and late) but I had a similar problem with an admittedly smaller amount of Tanzania Shillings following a family holiday a few years ago.

The 6th form at my children's school have an arrangement where pupils can go on a trip and volunteer at a sponsored school in Tanzania and whilst that's a few years away for my offspring I contented myself with that as the route to the notes being useful again.

Then we had a burglary. As well as discovering and helping themselves to gbp, usd, euros, and jpy, the intruders also took some dkk and the tzs. In effect I had outsourced the problem of what to do with a "difficult" currency. Whilst the police had no joy in finding any "evidence" with respect to our break-in a remarkably similar occurrence happened nearby the following weekend where we were lead to believe a DNA sample was retrieved from the scene. A series of raids followed during which an unusual currency combination of dkk and tzs was discovered amongst the suspect's possessions, which presumably he was unable to explain in a satisfactory manner. Statistically the odds of possessing both were, shall we say, small.

The notes are still in the possession of the police as evidence, and will no doubt be returned in due course post the trial. Given the glacial pace of the justice system that is likely to be shortly before my children reach the 6th form when the notes can be spent boosting the Tanzania domestic economy once more.

[DiamondEcho]

Reminds me of being burgled in the late 80s. Mid-80s I'd spent a few months in Bolivia then undergoing c20,000%/pa inflation. Put it another way, when we arrived in Bolivia in the summer of '85 the biggest bank-note was 10,000 Pesos, when we left it was 5,000,000, with the next bigger bill coming every few weeks.
I came home via Heathrow with a 'briquette' of bills about 4" thick - and a machete strapped to the outside of my rucksack [how times have changed]. A donkey-choking wad of 10,000>100,000 notes, about 300 bills, face value tens of millions, actual value about £5-10, and that's if you'd have found a place to convert it, which you wouldn't... For a while it was a bit of a party piece, it had novelty value, you'd leave it on the coffee table when friends came over and they'd be 'like WT*!!!!?'
...So those burglars must have thought they hit the jackpot. Bet they got a shock when they walked into a bank and tried to convert it to be told a) they couldn't, and b) it was then currently worth about 5p.
Shame though, that was a hell of a wad, and made a game of cards quite good fun when throwing multiple wads of millions over the table at each other...

[swill453]

You can buy genuine 100 trillion (Zimbabwe) dollar notes on eBay. Good for a novelty gift.

Scott.

[midnightcatprowl]

My local UK bank branch has a collection box for oddments of foreign currency on behalf of a worthy cause, Water Aid or World Vision, can't remember which. As I do a fair bit of travel I often end up with petty cash or change in odd currencies. It is quicker and more satisfying to donate it than have to faff about trying to exchange it.

If you can afford to give it away then the Air Ambulance (operates as different regions of the Air Ambulance but comes to the same thing) seems to be able to deal with any currency you choose to give it, plus outdated UK coins and notes. Branches of B&Q seem to have collection boxes, actually quite a big display sort of thing including a big see through collection box - in my nearest B&Q in the Kempston Interchange Retail Park in Kempston Beds this display/collection box is situated after the exit from the tills in a display area between the interior and exterior sliding doors. Also by chance today I was in the Morrison's supermarket on Ampthill Road Bedford - rare visit - and noticed a similar display/collection box in the area behind the check outs though I've no idea if it is just in that store or is a standard feature in Morrison's of a certain size?

I mention this as the Air Ambulance I suspect appeals to all as you never know when you or yours might need it. Personally I'd happily give to Water Aid or World Vision or what have you as well but we all have our own preferences in such things.