Who originated the term "radar note"?
taropatch99
Posts: 171 ✭✭
My google search came up empty. If we used the term "palindromic note", this thread wouldn't be necessary. Any idea who started using the term radar? Its not a bad choice really comparing to other candidates like kayak, madam or racecar. And, the average joe may not be familiar with the cumbersome word, palindrome.
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I asked ChatGPT and this was the response -
The term “Radar note” is a nickname used by paper money collectors (not officially issued by any government or currency authority) to describe a serial number that reads the same forward and backward—a numeric palindrome. For example, a note with the serial number 12344321 would be a Radar note.
As for who exactly coined the term “Radar note,” the origin isn’t clearly documented. It likely emerged informally among numismatists and currency collectors, probably sometime in the late 20th century when collecting fancy serial numbers became more popular. The name “Radar” cleverly plays on the concept of palindromes, since the word “radar” itself is a palindrome.
While there’s no single credited person, the term became widely used through collector forums, books on paper money collecting, and eventually auction sites like eBay and Heritage Auctions, where these notes are often marketed and sold as special or premium collectibles.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into the origin, older issues of Paper Money (the journal of the Society of Paper Money Collectors) or similar publications might contain early references.
Thank you Steve! i was familiar with ladders, low numbers, repeaters and birthdays but had not heard the term radar until I looked it up. I love palindromes and anagrams.
The term radar was used by the US Navy in the early 1940s. Radio Detection and Ranging. Someone noticed the word was a palindrome and adopted it to currency. Who this was is anyone's guess. I first heard the term used with currency in the 90s. Some people were already using it at that time.
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I started collecting paper money in 1988. The term radar was used then.
"Radar" is a good descriptive word for a palindrome because the word itself not only is a palindrome, but the definition of the word itself defines what a palindrome is: in actual radar, a radio signal goes out then reflects off a distant surface before bouncing back to you to be detected. Likewise, in a palindrome, the numbers (or letters) start out, get to a certain point, then bounce back. Thus, "radar" is doubly suitable, in both visually illustrating and intellectually describing the concept.
As for when the term originated, I'm pretty sure it was in use in the 1970s. I would assume its use begins right with the beginning of the whole concept of paying a premium for a serial number. I'm pretty sure my copy of Neil Shafer's "Lets Collect Paper Money" (which AbeBooks says dates from 1976) mentions radar numbers.
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