IBNS recently published a guide to banknote collecting. It is available as a PDF from the IBNS website. https://www.theibns.org/intro-to-banknotes/Introduction-To-Banknotes-And-Banknote-Collecting.pdf
Interesting read @lettow. I noticed the IBNS grading standards are slightly different than typical top tier American TPGs. Does the IBNS, or international TPGs use the Sheldon scale ?
The IBNS standards were developed in the 1970s and were synthesized from the various systems used in a variety of countries. They were created to have a common language for collectors in different countries. IBNS does not use the 70 point scale. An overwhelming majority of non-US IBNS members (and many US based members) have a great disdain for the TPG companies because of the "lower' standards and multiple degrees of UNC-ness used by the TPG companies. There are a couple of newer TPGs (WBG and ICG) that specialize in world notes and use the 70 point scale. Dennis Lutz, owner of WBG, is the IBNS president and Jaime Sanz, owner of ICG, is also heavily involved in IBNS.
Sounds like the IBNS is able to grade/describe a note into 10 distinct categories. In other words, an AU note would encompass numerical grades 50, 53, 55 and 58. Does the IBNS put as much emphasis on original paper as US collectors ?
An AU note under IBNS would probably be 55-63. The IBNS standards require adding pinholes, washed, pressed, repaired, etc. when describing the note. EF w/ PHs. It is imprecise. Not all EF notes are created equal. Although the standards do not detail this, many dealers used + or - to differentiate better or worse for the grade.
When do they decide on Banknote of the year ? I see that the Canadian $10, with Viola Desmond is in the running for 2018...cool note.
