Albert Pick: Standard Catalog of World Paper Money

Albert Pick's qualifications as author of this comprehensive, innovative study are without peer; universally recognized and respected as the foremost authority in the field of world paper money, he has authored numerous papers and catalogs that have contributed greatly to the rapidly expanding interest in this collecting pursuit. A profile of Pick presented by the International Bank Note Society observed "Albert was born in 1922 in Cologne and at the age of eight, and while still in elementary school, he began
collecting paper money and was an avid academic collector right through his studies at (the) university ... He founded the University Press of Cologne in 1946 and managed its activities until 1964; in that year the Bayerische Hypotheken-und Wechsel Bank (Hypo Bank) in Munich, West Germany, bought the whole of his collection which comprised of several thousand notes of all kinds of paper currency of the world and nominated him as curator of the bank."
Pick was honored in 1975 as recipient of the Nathan Gold Memorial Award, bestowed annually by the Society of Paper Money Collectors to recognize outstanding contributions toward the advancement of paper money collecting, for having authored the first edition of the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money, an effort which that same year earned him Special Award recognition from the Society for International Numismatics.
Pick's other honors include the 1972 Award of Merit bestowed by the Society of Paper Money Collectors to recognize his "many contributions to paper money collecting" and in particular for providing the hobby with his then newly published catalog of European paper money.