I don't know much of anything on the topic of fractional currency but I couldn't resist this cute little 5 Cent piece offered at my local coin club auction last night. After some googling around, I verified it is indeed the Fr. 1232 second issue without surcharge and it looks genuine to me. But when I went to PCGS Currency verification and entered 80655850, it said no such number exists. Their website says the cert number appears under the grade on the obverse but mine is on the reverse. I took a look at several PCGS-certified examples for sale and found many whose PCGS number arrangement is like mine, i.e. on the reverse. Does anyone know why the PCGS certification database doesn't list my example? Is there another way to verify certification? BTW, the bronze oval around GW's portrait and the large bronze "5" on the reverse look like kid's glitter under a glass. Very pretty and part of anti-counterfieit measures if I understand correctly.
That was certified when PCGS outsourced currency grading and you can no longer verify it. They have this note on their website: Collectors Universe, Inc., parent company of PCGS, operated PCGS Currency from 2005 until 2009 when it sold the banknote grading division to another company and licensed the trademark and brand name for 10 years until January, 2019 when the name and license returned to Collectors Universe. Therefore, notes graded under the PCGS Currency brand are graded as crossovers to ensure they meet the standards of the new PCGS Banknote grading service.
Good thing I’m not a member of you local coin club. If I were, that piece would be in my collection not yours. It’s great looking piece. Well done!
Those LCC auctions almost never contain anything that interests me but when I saw this one and examined it closely, I really couldn't see why it didn't get an uncirculated grade. The opening bid ask was, at $75 and after a little smartphone research, quite fair I thought. So I opened the bidding and was the only bidder and voila, it went home with me.
As the owner of many PCGS notes from collectors universe, you were thrown in to the shredder, my best advise is send it in to PMG for recertification I have already done this and 9 out of 10 times they have come back in a positive manner.
I assume this comment was directed at me. If so, I can't determine what you're trying to tell me. I really don't see why I should submit it for recertification but I'm happy to listen to what you have to say. If it helps to understand me, I have no interest in assembling a fractional currency collection. My interest in this note is two-fold: 1) A nice addendum to my US Type Coin Set to sit beside my Colonial and Continental examples and, 2) The novelty of it.
In a nut shell, trying to get you to ditch the collectors universe ( PCGS ) holder and re certify the note with PMG or PCGS ( GOLD SHEILD ) your resale value is substantially less as there is no registry with the collectors universe version.
The PCGS Banknote Company when belly up. All of their certified notes are like raw notes now. That is not a big problem for the less expensive pieces, but for the better notes, it means you either have to sell them at a discount or have them re-graded. I witnessed a transaction at the Summer FUN which illustrated the problem. A represntive from another dealer brought a note to a dealer with whom I do a great deal of business. The dealer looked at the note and said, "You know the problem, don't you? I can only pay you X." The representative acknoweldged the situation and accepted the offer. My dealer friend told me that the PCGS Banknote Company got lose with their grading toward the end which tainted the product. Personally I don't think that this situation speaks well for PCGS. And yea, Fractional Currency is a lot of fun to collect. You can put together a type set without breaking the bank. I put a set together back in the late 1980s. All of my notes are raw, although they are all high grade circs or crisp Uncirculated. I am not a paper money expert, however. The piece you have is considered to be from the second issue of Fractional Currency. Technically it's the first issue, because the earliest notes were called “Postal Currency.” The oval around Washington’s portrait is an anti-counterfeiting device. It’s made of copper particles glued to the paper. If it’s like the copper in a bronze coin. If it’s bright red, it’s pristine. It usually turns brown, and it some instances can even turn green. I’ve see counterfeit pieces that had green around the portrait. Those were made "back in the day," not recently. Here's the Second Issue 5 cent note from my collection. Here is a Postal Currency note to show you the difference. This one has the perferated edge, like a postage stamp. They also come with plain edges.
In early July, I had my LCS send in a PCGS graded note to be put in a PMG holder. Yesterday, I was informed it will be at least another month before I get the note back.
I think it took me three months to get a couple of notes back from grading. Of course it was shorter when I paid more, those notes that took longer were not worth paying the price.
