Tips on pressed notes, etc?

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to the paper money scene. I've been collecting coins for
many years, but only recently realized that I really enjoy currency. I've
picked up a few books, including Kelly's National Banknotes book (NBN's
fascinate me), and started getting Banknote Reporter as well. I have also
had the chance to go to a few shows, including St. Louis last year, and
Chicago the other weekend, which was quite a bit of fun.

I guess my question is, what advice or tips do you veterans have on
identifying pressed, bleached, or otherwise "whizzed" notes? Is it that
common to see such notes for sale online? In particular, I was wondering if
paper that has a wavy texture (like getting paper wet, then letting it dry)
was an indication of that. What else should one look closely at?

Any other advice or suggestions are appreciated,

Eric

Hi!

Welcome to paper collecting! You've good questions.

I am no expert; however, if a note has been pressed by an amateur
'up-grader', you'll notice a shiny, flattened look on the most heavily inked
portions of an engraved note. The heat of the iron causes the ink to soften
and thereby flatten.

Also, look at the 'usual' places where a note is creased (vertically thru
the middle of the note, vertically a quarter of the width in from each side
and horizontally thru the middle of the note) and see if any printing is
missing. On an original, uncreased and unpressed note, there will be no
missing ink. Especially look at the point where these crease lines
intersect. On a fresh engraved note, you can easily feel the engraving
sticking up from the surface of the note. Get a brand new note from the
bank and try it out. On a more worn note, this effect is less noticible.

Know what a good note looks like, especially colors of seals and underprints
(if any). Variance is possible in some series; for instance, some small
size Fed Res notes have what is called a lighter 'apple green' seal and
number color. Later issues use the more familiar, darker green.

When the BEP used the 'wet paper' method of printing notes, the notes would
dry with a wavy texture to the paper. After they changed over to the dry
process, this ended. So, wavy paper is not necessarily a sign of
enhancement if the note is an older note. I can't remember exactly when the
BEP switched processes; however, I am sure some other r.c.p-m'er knows and
will post the info... (Mid 1950's??)

I am sure that there are many other things to look for and many others who
have other ideas on how to detect the enhancement of notes...

HTH!

Jay in Garrison, TX

reply, if ya' wanna, to

A very good question and if anyone has the ideal way of detecting
pressed or cleaned notes it will be very useful. Cleaned/pressed notes
are very common and are even listed in the auction catalogues of major
auction houses here in the UK with no mention that they have been
treated.

A UV lamp, like the ones used to detect fake notes, may cause a washed
note to glow due to the residue left by the washing agent, I have a
washed note that glows like it's radioactive, I got it from a dealer
based in Australia.

Get used to seeing what an old note of natural colour looks like and
this will help in the detection of cleaned notes, even by looking at the
colour illustrations in an auction catalogue it's possible to spot the
cleaned notes, or should I say spot the few that have not been cleaned.
Experience looking at the various note issues, there are a large variety
of Scottish notes, helps to detect a cleaned note.

Sniffing a note can help as the niff of the washing agent often remains,
some notes smell like the inside of a laundrette, yes really they do.

I have attended auction viewings with fellow experienced note collectors
and very often opinion is divided over whether a note is cleaned/pressed
or not, for beginners it will be very very difficult to decide.

Some of us here in the UK hold an "uncirculated" note in the flat of the
hand and if opposite corners curl up we take that as an indication that
it's been pressed, is this an accurate test? I don't know.

There are few genuinely uncirculated UK notes from the 60's and the
older the note is the less likely it is that uncirculated examples
exist. I feel safer buying old notes that are "low" grade, e.g. vf,
than taking the chance of buying a higher grade, e.g. EF, as I feel
fairly sure that the higher grade old notes will have been "improved".

If you are thinking of buying a UK note off ebay post a link here first
as there are sellers that regularly overgrade notes, not note.boy of
course. :-)

Sorry for the ramble but "improved" notes are one of my pet
subjects/hates, print out the above and carry it with you when note
hunting. :-) Billy


skyliner wrote:

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to the paper money scene. I've been collecting coins for
many years, but only recently realized that I really enjoy currency. I've
picked up a few books, including Kelly's National Banknotes book (NBN's
fascinate me), and started getting Banknote Reporter as well. I have also
had the chance to go to a few shows, including St. Louis last year, and
Chicago the other weekend, which was quite a bit of fun.

I guess my question is, what advice or tips do you veterans have on
identifying pressed, bleached, or otherwise "whizzed" notes? Is it that
common to see such notes for sale online? In particular, I was wondering if
paper that has a wavy texture (like getting paper wet, then letting it dry)
was an indication of that. What else should one look closely at?

Any other advice or suggestions are appreciated,

Eric

"note.boy" wrote in message
...
A very good question and if anyone has the ideal way of detecting
pressed or cleaned notes it will be very useful

Can a good piece of India rubber be used to take of pencil
marks or is that also considered 'tampering' with the note?

"Richard" wrote in message
news:SJO2c.2057$re1.1938@newsfe1-win...

"note.boy" wrote in message
...
A very good question and if anyone has the ideal way of detecting
pressed or cleaned notes it will be very useful

Can a good piece of India rubber be used to take of pencil
marks or is that also considered 'tampering' with the note?



Don't know about others, but I would rather see a pencil mark than some
attempt at cleaning it off that went bad and ended up being much more
noticeable than the original pen or pencil mark. I occasionally see notes
on fleaBay that have had this done, they qualify as even more damaged IMHO.

Dave


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whohah wrote:


When the BEP used the 'wet paper' method of printing notes, the notes would
dry with a wavy texture to the paper. After they changed over to the dry
process, this ended. So, wavy paper is not necessarily a sign of
enhancement if the note is an older note. I can't remember exactly when the
BEP switched processes; however, I am sure some other r.c.p-m'er knows and
will post the info... (Mid 1950's??)

I believe that the 12 and 18 note sheets were the wet process and the 32
note sheets the dry process.

That means that the dry process would have started with the 1957 $1
silver certificates.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Scheers, Applied Synergy, Inc.

Voice: 817-237-3360 Internet:
Fax: 817-237-3074

I don't remove pencil marks but I know of collectors who do, is is
tampering but of the lesser kind. Billy


Richard wrote:

"note.boy" wrote in message
...
A very good question and if anyone has the ideal way of detecting
pressed or cleaned notes it will be very useful

Can a good piece of India rubber be used to take of pencil
marks or is that also considered 'tampering' with the note?

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