Hello group Does ironing paper money take away any value? I received some silver notes that were winkled bad and ironed them between two clothes with light heat. They look great but did I mess up? Thanks Biged
These presses used for printing banknotes leave both raised areas of ink and indentations below the surface of a banknote. This is called "embossing." Those areas will be flattened out when you press a note with an iron, and are an immediate sign of an attempted cover-up of folds. If the pressing is un-reported during a sale, and the buyer doesn't discover it, then yes, the price may go higher. But it is generally considered unethical not to mention that a note has been pressed, and typically the sale price will be lower for such a note. Dave
yes ironing or any other kind of rough handling will ruin the value of a note. it is just like a coin. keep it as it is. DON'T clean it.
Thank you. I will not do this again. Thank god they were not worth much. They are now just good display pieces. This is how we educate ourselves. We first screw up then ask questions. LOL I am a noobie with paper money only been collecting paper money on and off for about two years. Thanks Biged
I may be one of the dissenters who is not wholly opposed to pressing a note, under certain conditions of course. I thoroughly agree that pressing the note to improve it appearance for resale is deceptive and unethical. I'm also opposed to pressing any high grade note that has any remaining embossing. As Dave mentioned, the impression cylinder leaves indents on the paper that make it feel raised on the opposite side. Pressing the note removes most if not all of the embossing, however. However, some low-end notes are already void of embossing and may have been pressed (poorly) to be begin with. I have used the process below on some poor-quality notes before I framed them. I think it's perfectly acceptable to press a raggedy note that you don't plan to sell in an im Simply putting the note in a book will not do much for it. Moisture is needed to relax the fibers of the paper before you put any weight on it. The process I used: I put some water in a kettle and held the note over the steam, to ensure both sides were moist but not soaking wet. (Be careful not to burn your hands) The steam relaxes the fibers in the note. As the note dries, the fibers stiffen in the position they are in. Carefully pull the note to very gently to stretch the fibers in the creases. Place the wet note between two sheets of plain white paper. The paper with the note inside goes inside a large book. The purpose of the paper is to prevent the ink from the book from smearing onto the note. Stack 10-20 books on top of it, and leave it for a minimum of 48 hours. Things to keep in mind: - Do not press notes that are at risk of tearing or falling apart. - Imagine the fibers in a crease look like this ____/\____. Pulling the note while the note is wet and the fibers relaxed will help the fibers in the crease go flat. - As the note dries with the fibers in the crease flattened, the fibers stiffen and the crease becomes less prominent. - There is a risk of crushing the fibers and making the crease weaker, especially if the note is not wet.
