Getting creases out of paper money

There is such a premium on big bills now, this bill which used to sell for 600 probably goes for 1000 and up these days. So I wouldn't mess with it. It won't increase the value and it could decrease it.

 

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Thanks for your advice, I'm just going t leave it alone.

 

I would try to find a one dollar bill with similar stamp, use 20 percent bleach and Qtip and surgically blot the area. See how that works first.

 

Can you show us some before and after pictures of your work?

 

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/729800/how-to-remove-ink-from-paper-money

 

http://www.popsci.com/article/science/washing-dollar-bills-carbon-dioxide-could-save-billions

There are many ways to clean and wash, press and remove ink from money. As I posted above even the Fed does it to some deg. So when some say don't do it your crisp 500 dollar bill may have been washed several times by the fed. LOL

 

funkee, posted: "I sit on the other side of this debate. Don't iron the note. If a note is pressed properly, it's possible to make the folds less prominent. However, passing it off to a buyer as if the note were better condition to get more money, is unethical."

In a real sense, any alteration to a note or coin is unethical; however in the real world...
Look, what we do to a collectible while it is in our possession is our business. Just because the member's mother pressed her husband's money does not make her a "doctor."

"If you were to sell it and do not disclose what was done, a buyer may believe the note is higher grade than it actually is based on photos, and pay more money. This would constitute note doctoring and fraud in my opinion."

Ignorance is bliss. You, me, or the TPGS's cannot protect collectors from unethical practices. Do you have any idea the number of truly original (never altered in any way) notes exist? I'll guarantee it is well below what any of us believe. By your standard which is perfectly OK, I'll bet more than 40% of graded notes would flunk!

"So even though it is possible to make the folds less obvious,...."

I think that is what the OP wants for his personal property - the note.

 

Here is a photo of my Great GFs first dollar he earned. Someone had put a sticker on it. I removed the sticker leaving the back of the sticker still on the note. I used a small bit of Turpentine to loosen up the adhesive. No one would ever know it was removed or ever there. I would doubt many notes at all have went though any amount of life minus those collected at the time of printing and kept as collectable have not been cleaned in one way or another. Just putting them in a book or stacking them in any way will lessen creases. So its really foolish to act like you can not clean a note and not have it hurt the value.

 

Paper money collectors are fooling themselves if they think there aren't means to alter the condition of a note that are almost undetectable.
Because notes usually have unique series and serial numbers, it is possible to document a note as it transits from a seller at one grade, to another seller who offers it at a TPG slabbed higher grade. I've seen it for myself - a nice, clean but crumpled note sold at its actual grade, and later sold at auction with the crumples gone, and certified as being a much higher grade. At four times the original seller's price.
Want not to be screwed that way? Cultivate a relationship with a dealer who's proven his probity. They're out there.

 

Or buy the crumpled note fix it yourself and you have an upgraded note for half price. The Note I am waiting on is a confederate note. The seller put large hold near portrait. Its not a hole. Its a cut cancel and the missing piece is not missing its folded back. I will fold it back to original position and iron it out to flatten it. To me its like someone who bought a car and restored it. I would never buy a vintage car and not think it has not had parts replaced.

 

OK. Maybe you like paying four times as much for a note because it was "restored" and slabbed. I do not.
As a collector in multiple fields, I'm aware of the differences in standards that exist among them. In coin collecting, no coin the surface of which has been altered in any way should be described as original. In stamp collecting, a reperfed stamp is a filler at best. A regummed stamp is especially egregious, because sharp operators will regum them using glue dissolved from the backs of common stamps of the same time and place. The only way to tell for sure is to microscopically examine the perfs for residue that wouldn't be present if the stamps had been gummed first and then perforated. Forgers of paper collectibles love the flysheets that were ubiquitous in books until the late 20th Century. It gave them a piece of blank paper the age of which was precise to the year. And you could cut them out of library books for no cost, unless you got caught.
In the document collecting field, restoration is common, often necessary, because many documents have ink and/or paper processing residues that will destroy them if not ameliorated. From necessary restoration to restoration for esthetic purposes to restoration to make a document seem more original than it is to enhance its value is a slippery slope. Paper money collecting got caught up in it, and the hobby adopted the ethos - if you can't tell a note has been restored, then it hasn't been.
That's no way to run a railroad or a hobby.

 

Just a thought, it is common and acceptable to restore old paintings, it is acceptable to restore collectable toys, it is acceptable to restore books, why is it unacceptable to restore coin or currency? I think it's because the people who collect the different items set the rules for those collectables. At one time it was acceptable to clean a coin, now it is not. Many old coins are downgraded because they've been "cleaned", but by the standard of the time the coin was cleaned it was a common practice.

Ancient coins, that are dug out of the ground can be washed, that's acceptable. Wash a modern coin and you get "details" on the holder. I personally like the patina on old coins and would never clean them, but if I get a coin with PVC residue from an old flip, I don't think twice about cleaning them with acetone. Have a Morgan Dollar with one tiny carbon spot on it? would you clean that one little spot or leave it alone? I'd clean it. I put all my currency into holders that are stiff. Do they help flatten out wrinkles and folds? You bet they do. So I feel bad about altering the state of that currency? NO.

 

Small Size, posted: "OK. Maybe you like paying four times as much for a note because it was "restored" and slabbed. I do not."

That makes sense, who could disagree with your personal preference? There is a BUT is coming...

"As a collector in multiple fields, I'm aware of the differences in standards that exist among them. In coin collecting, no coin the surface of which has been altered in any way should be described as original. In stamp collecting, a reperfed stamp is a filler at best. A regummed stamp is especially egregious, because sharp operators will regum them using glue dissolved from the backs of common stamps of the same time and place. The only way (actually, NOT the only way as you must know several others ) to tell for sure is to microscopically examine the perfs for residue that wouldn't be present if the stamps had been gummed first and then perforated. Forgers of paper collectibles love the flysheets that were ubiquitous in books until the late 20th Century. It gave them a piece of blank paper the age of which was precise to the year. And you could cut them out of library books for no cost, unless you got caught."

Mostly an excellent description of things. The BUT is coming...


"In the document collecting field, restoration is common, often necessary, because many documents have ink and/or paper processing residues that will destroy them if not ameliorated. From necessary restoration to restoration for esthetic purposes to restoration to make a document seem more original than it is to enhance its value is a slippery slope. Paper money collecting got caught up in it, and the hobby adopted the ethos - if you can't tell a note has been restored, then it hasn't been. That's no way to run a railroad (BUT this is where you go off the tracks!) or a hobby."

Who is going to "play" GOD? You, me, the TPGS? Let's all quit posting this idealistic BS.
Bottom line: If there is no external evidence to prove that a collectible is not original... you get the idea. Now, all that counts is the EXPERTISE of the examiner.

 

I agree with what you are saying TheMont. With coins it has to do with damaging the original surfaces of the coin. As for paper money, do paper graders have chemical analysis that can detect the presence of bleach? (Or other chemicals?) And if they do wouldn't that prevent a note from being straight graded?

 

I wouldn't give TPGS that much credibility. I sent four Liberty Walking Halves all with natural toning, all from the same roll, to one of the top two grading services. Two came back graded normally and two came back altered surfaces. I called them and explained that all four came out of the same roll and had natural toning. They asked me to return the two labeled altered surface ones to give them another look. Remember, grading and to some degree their saying a coin is authentic is not a science it is an art, it is an opinion of a group of men or women who sometimes don't even get the label right.

 

you completely missed the point. You got it reversed. What I said was its better to buy a note that is less then perfect and iron it or make the folds go away as I said I was going to do with my next note coming in. A confederate note that was listed as having a hole and it does not. It has a CC fold that can be simply bent back and with a piece of paper on top ironed out and brought back.

 

Just leave it the way it is.

 

I will post photos before and after