I love paper money, don’t you?

Are you prejudiced against paper money?

No, I am not talking about the issuance of unbacked fiat currency by the Federal Reserve.

I am talking about paper money as a collectible.

Chances are, if you are a coin collector, you might also enjoy collecting paper money.

Many people have an automatic, “That must be so expensive” reaction to the idea. That is not surprising. For much of our lives, coins were small change and paper money reflected bigger if not big values, or another way of saying high cost.

That old mental habit could overshadow any thought of taking up the paper money collecting hobby – but don’t let it.

When you consider the current prices of some of the latest modern coin sets, you could almost start collecting $100 bills and it would be cheaper.

I am serious.

Next time you are at a coin show, find a paper money dealer and ask him to show you some of the collectible small-size $100s that he has.

Sure, I’ll understand if you would rather start with the $1 bill.

The important thing is to start.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."