I have a rare 1918 $1 FRBN with two pinholes in the top right and top left corners, that do not enter the design. Other than the pinholes, it's close to uncirculated and worth quite a bit. There are no flaps on the back of the pinholes to close them easily, however. I've research using japanese hinging tissue paper to seal them up, but I will probably seek a professional. I'm still on the fence as to whether I should even bother with it. Has anyone gotten any restorations done on their notes?
I've always been told to never mess with the original state of any note (especially a rare, valuable note). I'll be interested to see what the pro's have to say on this one.
It's probably worth it to sell it as is, then to spend money on having it patched, and maybe it's just me but I think a currency collector would not have as much interest in a repaired note.
If the pinholes don't detract the appearance of the note too much, its probably best to leave it alone. But if you want to restore it you should know that any restoration no matter how small will devalue the note. But as far as restoration, I have never had any notes restored. But I have seen comic books be completely restored. It all depends on the skill level of the restorer. If they are good enough you can barely tell your note was restored until it gets graded.
I have a reasonably expensive french note (below) for which only three copies are known to exist staple pinholes. When this note came available for purchase, it was listed as "w/o ph", which I found very hard to believe. The seller wasn't aware of the scarcity of the note with no holes, and I made the assumption when I bought it, that there were holes, just hard to see. Sure enough, it does, and they were repaired to the point of almost being invisible. In my case, I'm quite happy with this purchase, as it wasn't a surprise to me, and the repair is done very well. I normally would not have bought the note, except that a true "w/o ph" might never have come on the market. As a buyer, I'd look at yours the same way. Is it something I could eventually find a better copy of, or is an expertly repaired version the best I can expect? Dave
Unless the hole was caused by an insect or a punch, the paper is simply pushed aside to create the hole. It's a relatively easy task to move the fibers back into place, eliminating the hole. Some fibers may be broken but they can be realigned to appear natural. Not a job for an amateur, but simple for a restorer.
Here's what the pinholes look like. Seems like there are fibers there on the reverse to close them up after all. By the way. These are cell phone camera pics, taken at medium size and resolution. I love the Samsung Note 2.
