If that were the case, it wouldn't have serial numbers and seals. Somehow a sheet from an inking test stayed in the production stream and went through COPE. That suggests that at least fifteen more of these things exist, by the way....
"Flooded field" test notes. Settle down, that's where my knowledge stops. ha I have no idea why these are done in the printing process, but I DO know that occasionally the grading companies will simply label some as "ink smears" which tend to go for much less. Usually you see these with green ink, the black being much more rare. And the underlying print and contour are normally visible as in the examples shown.
I suggest you look at the note the OP posted and read the fine print PCGS Curreny printed under the grade. This is standard practice for test notes.
It's standard practice to test the inking by printing a sheet from a plate that's inked but not wiped. It's *not* standard practice to send that sheet through the subsequent steps of the production process to give it serials and seals and cut it down to single notes. (Which is why PCGS also labelled the note an "error".)
But wouldn't it be easier just to let it run all the way through the process (till the cutting point) rather than halting everything after the first printing which this is a test of. This note is incredible because of the embossing showing the entire design of the plate clearly, which I imagine is the point of the test. As for cutting, these are cut the same way any flood test is (consequently the same manner in which they reach your hands): sneaky employees.
PS - Whatever the circumstance and reason for its existence may be... that note is pretty damn incredible.
I just LOVE learning new technical grading terms that are invented by TPGs. In this case I believe this is the first time I have seen anything graded as ALMOST NEW. So descriptive and impressive. I think I'll run out and have all of my ALMOST NEW 2016 one dollar bills graded. I wonder what that pile of non information will cost?
