Hi I am trying to find out if there is any way to remove from what I can tell double sided tape from older bills. i am very heasitant to do so but before I did anything I wanted to ask for ideas. Thanks for the help.
Honestly, I would not take the tape off. You run the chance of damaging the bill on either the level of the naked eye or on a microscopic level. I try to leave all notes and coins as I found them, both good and bad.
Agreed...the same is true with both notes and coins. They are currently in the best condition they will ever be in...any altering will only make it worse.
I agree, there are certain coins that can be improved by certain people...but those are very select situations and individuals. For most people, my statement stands true and is good as a general rule.
Merc, I agree that altering some coins may make them look better to the naked eye, but a lot of times you notice issues once they are under magnification. This is especially true if you are not familiar with techniques such as dipping, cleaning, etc. I just use the general rule that it should be left as you found it.
A dip in acetone to remove glue and glue residue would have no noticeable impact on a coin. Maybe a small impact at the molecular level, but I don't think that's of great concern.
I 100% agree 99% of the time. I know absolutely ZERO about restoring the round, metal discs, but I have read countless articles about restoring, cleaning, or as some collectors/dealers refer to it, " doctoring " paper currency. Let me start with a photo courtesy of the Whitman Encyclopedia of U.S.Paper Money by Q.David Bowers; I'm not certain how long the BEP laundered notes, but as it says "thousands per hour", there must have been a huge amount of large-size currency cleaned by the manufacturer, and returned to circulation. I have experimented myself on common, modern-era, dirty, low denomination, circulated notes in a home process described in detail by Q.David Bowers himself and the results are amazing. PLEASE, keep in mind that the notes I cleaned were for experimentation purposes only, and never for profit. I occasionally donate or give away notes, and do not sell notes in my collection. The formula for cleaning an ordinary dirty note is really quite simple. Ivory bar soap,(softened) and cold water, dried between paper towels in a thick book. I do not advocate cleaning notes, but if you have a dirty note in your personal collection and want to improve it's face appearance, with no regard to original paper quality, and absolutely no intent of selling the note, then I see no harm. I'll give you an example of before and after ; If you covet original/exceptional paper quality, do not clean your notes !!!
Steve, I have to admit that the note looks better at a glance without the stamp, but you can tell that it affected other areas such as the "or by like deposit". I still have to say keep it the way it was, but agree that without before/after photos, it would have been hard to tell.
I agree Matt....the biggest difference I noticed is; " The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Missouri " is darker on the before note.
Trying to remove any type of residue may look good to the naked eye, but if it,s Something that is going to be graded it will most certainly be caught and the Note will be down graded maybe even an apparent grade which is always bad News
I like it more Matt. Teller stamps, or whatever the mark was, is history to some, but too me it was a distraction......kinda like if a note had pencil marks that could be easily removed. Every time I show the note, (photos) I always show the before and after.
I agree that the stamp was a distraction. I guess as long as you like it, that's all that really counts. It's yours and will be in your collection, so that's good.
