WOULD you pay $12 for a $10 note? Coin dealer Chan Leung has already sold 2,000 crisp, new bills for $24,000.
Why? Because he was among the first to spot that the introduction of the $10 coin was a money-making opportunity.
Most people prefer to give new $10 notes in laisee packets at Lunar New Year - old notes or coins are not quite right.
But, for the first time this Lunar festival, major banks are unable to provide new bills. No more $10 bills are being printed and they are gradually being withdrawn from circulation.
Mr Chan, owner of the Toyo Trading and Stamp Company, said he had sold 2,000 banknotes to a businessman who was worried he would not be able to get a supply of crisp, clean $10 banknotes because none had been printed since last year.
The dealer said he was offering the $10 bills which he had got from the bank last year in batches of 100.
