I usually hang out with coins and notes are a struggle for me, so please advise! I have been offered this Isle of Man Guinea note. It is obviously in pretty rough condition, but is early. Looks as if it should have had date etc filled in - or have these just faded? What would be a fair price to pay the chap? Is there much market for this sort of thing? Or is it a later reproduction made up to look old? (I couldn't find anything similar on Ebay.)
Pretty cool note, especially if it’s authentic. Undated, unissued notes are called Remainders. It appears someone has folded and unfolded that note many times. Perhaps to show people. They reference the note here - http://banknote.ws/COLLECTION/countries/EUR/IOM/IOMS0111.htm
Yes - I now have it in hand having done a deal for it in amongst a load of more modern IOM coins. It has the wire mesh effect watermark typical of old handmade paper. I can't see any words or pictures amongst the wire mesh?
Looking at the larger image it appears to be on the right paper, I cannot think at the moment what effect you describe is but it was how paper was manufactured at that time(lot better quality, with a lot of cotton). IoM is one of those little corners of the British Isles I would like to know a lot more about their notes - there were several commercial banks in Stanley issuing quids until 1961 when the Government of the Isle of Man took over the privilege.
The effect I was describing was this: ... but without the cypher. Paper was made by draining the mulch against a wire mesh, which left these parallel lines from the wire. I saw a documentary on art recently where they were able to date the paper by the spacing of the lines left by the wire.
