Getting creases out of paper money

This is where caveat emptor comes in. At some point stupid is as stupid does and its not our job to make a stupid friendly world. If some idiot buys a Micky Mouse coin as real that is their stupidity.

 

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"No matter how good the machinist is, it is always going to be noticeable where the quarter snaps into the Sacagawea Dollar."

How do we contact the machinist?

 

I found him on eBay.

 

Here's the Obverse and Reverse of the machinist's mule:

 

Just as I though in the beginning. This is a novelty coin. The altered coins that are made to imitate the rare mule and deceive collectors are plated - not two-toned silver/bronze.

 

I've said that from the beginning. That's why the government has left him alone. First, money is yours and you can do what you want with it as long as you're not trying to commit fraud or represent the altered coin as something real and valuable He lists the coin as a novelty in his write up and notes that he purposely did not plate the coin so that it might not be mistaken for a real mule.

Sometimes I think people don't read the earlier posts in a tread. I just think it's cool and he did a good job, like collecting, if you like the coin , you buy the coin.

 

A collector has to do what they feel comfortable with. If its OK with you do it. If not don't its that simple. I know what I can do and can not do. I don't need nor do I care what some other collector thinks.

 

I do not see how gently ironing a folded note is any different than straightening out a dog-eared corner or dipping a tarnished (ugly) silver dollar into coin cleaning solution.

With that said, if the ironing process includes a little starch--now I've got a problem.

 

It's harder than you may think to "gently iron" a US currency note without it being obvious.
US currency is printed intaglio. That means the printing plate only has ink in its recessed areas, and it is pressed on the paper with so much force that it leaves a raised ink impression. It's called "embossing". Iron out the fold, iron out the embossing. It shows.
Some coins are so befouled that a dip will do them good. But then they no longer have an original surface. So long as everybody knows that, no harm done.

 

And if it falls into the hands of somebody who does plate it, then it could be passed off as a valuable error.

 

I think you're stretching the point a little to far. First, It's not easy to plate the coin in a color that matches the color of a Sacagawea Dollar and secondly, a close examination would revel the area where the quarter was inserted into the Sacagawea. I think we have more to worry about Chinese counterfeits than a machinist making novelty items.

 

I would not worry about what someone else thinks. Do what thou wilt

 

SO WHAT! I'm not the fashion police.

I'd like to strangle the stupid bureaucrats who were all stirred up by a well-known old "Ex-Pert" who couldn't tell a genuine coin from a crude fake much of the time and wanted "copy" stamped all over the place.

Reality check: The crooks don't comply and the beautiful struck copies made for collectors who could never afford them are ruined. You, me, the TPGS, etc. cannot protect people from their ignorance or greed . Please go preach your idealistic views to the choir...I can't sing.

 

I wouldn't put it as strongly as you did, but I have to agree. I would to be able to buy a copy of a coin that I would never be able to afford, with out having replica or copy stamped on it. I know coin collecting is a hobby, but people who are into the hobby have a responsibility to know what they are collecting. If someone offers me an expensive coin to buy, I going to have it checked out before I even consider buying it (as if I had the money).

One button of mine is people who buy coins from the shopping channel that sells other items. As any collector knows, they charge three to four times market value for the coins they sell. Either people are to lazy to buy a magazine with coin prices in it or they love the "Flex-Pay" offered by the show. You could say it's the person who buys the coin(s) problem, but talk to any Coin Dealer who has to tell these people, when they bring the coin to them to sell, that they over paid. Who do they get mad at? The Dealer.

 

It's the geriatic people or the under teen crowd that can't tell the difference. If we could illininate all this concern, we could also illiminate a lot of laws.You would still need and identifier on the coin, otherwise it could be considered a counterfeit. What would you suggest?

 

First, I've found when you make generalities, you are generally wrong. I'm what you would consider "geriatric" and a lot of members of the coin club I belong to are also "geriatric". As a matter of fact that is a major concern of coin collecting, who is going to take the place of all the "geriatrics" when they pass on. Coin collecting with a few exceptions is a greying hobby.

As to an identifier, I know its been suggested to keep talk about Daniel Carr in the thread that discusses him, but as a coincidence I just received, in today's mail, his Liberty Walking Quarter overstrike. It has the date 1915, I think that's a pretty good indicator to collectors considering they weren't minted until 1916 (wish I had a real one of those).

 

Do not manipulate bills. You may soften the creases, but the underlying problem can still be detected (the crease can still be seen by an expert), and the other features like the embossed intaglio may be adversely affected by such inteference. Plus a wrinkled note has some history. It always makes me wish that I could move back the hands of time to rescue the note from its impending destruction.

 

The Mint used to or still washes bills in washing machines. I wonder if some of those wrinkled bills you have were washed by the Mint.

 

The Mint does no such thing and it never has. The BEP had washing machines but has not used them for about 100 years.