Looking through my collection of banknotes (which has been sitting for 16 years), I noticed a note that I had kept in the sleeve I bought it in. The sleeve itself had been put in a (not sure what to call it) large plastic sleeve that you use in a binder. Normally used for sheets of paper. I am not sure of what type of plastic either is made of. The large sleeve for the sheets of paper I think is specifically for documentation, so it might (!) be safe. The sleeve specifically for the banknote I have no idea. It is a somewhat stiff plastic, but not inflexible. Bought in the early 1990's. These were kept in an album in a cupboard. Little or no sunlight. I noticed that the sleeve for the banknote has turned yellow. This of course can't be good. I can't tell if it hurt the note. I have other, identical sleeves that I kept separate, unused. These are fine. Would it then be correct to assume that the plastic of the large binder page/sheet/sleeve harmed the plastic of the sleeve? I have banknotes in these larger binder sheets. These look fine, but I haven't seen these in so long, who knows. Either way it looks like it would be very wise to invest in good mylar sleeves. Or is it possible that the sleeve the note came in is the right kind of plastic but that the binder plastic/page/sleeve broke it down anyway? I am trying to figure this out. Regards, Christine
Christine, Take them out of the sleeves and place them in mylar sleeves or pockets before they become damaged. Also what notes do you collect LOL
I have mylar sleeves on the way (just ordered them, will take a week or two to get here). When I started collecting about 20-25 years ago I collected everything. My father worked for the Dutch ministery of foreign affairs, which helped :smile About 16 years ago events overtook my collecting and things sat on a shelf since then. Recently I came across my collection again and my interest was revived. So things have been sitting in plastic for quite a while. Some of the best quality notes look fine, but who knows. I intend to collect the notes from my current collection I find most interesting: MPC's, Allied Military Currency, perhaps Japanese Invasion Money and possibly other related notes. I find these historically interesting. One of these days I will go through my collection to figure out what I want to keep and what I want to trade or sell. I am pretty sure that most of it is worth very little. There are some things that I am not going to actively collect but which I don't want to get rid of either. That means I will probably be getting rid of things like Cambodian and Chinese notes of which I have quite a few. Quite a few other Asian notes as well (so if anyone is interested, let me know). Regards, Christine
