I acquired some paper money and have no idea where to start looking for value or if it's real. Figured I would turn to the group with the most collective knowledge. Any help would be appreciated
If you mean the 1950s, then it is old. That is when Historical Products began making these copies. These date from before 1973. That is when the Hobby Protection Act required the word COPY to be placed on reproductions.
Yes: all copies. Thanks for the source of the copies @lettow! How can you tell whether your notes are copies? Take a look at the real colonials & look for these red flags on the examples above: A) paper is uniformly aged, darkened, or mottled to appear aged (genuine is unevenly aged & with a lighter appearance, a minor bit of mottling). B) the patterns are too perfect & ink too dark (genuine: the ink fades unevenly) C) the signatures are WAY too dark/they're part of the design b/c they weren't applied by hand (genuine: the hand signature(s) is the first thing to fade (& sometimes a date) depending on the ink used + the fading is uneven.
I bought some of these from a local five & dime when I was a kid during the 60's. Some said "facsimile" others did not.
I bought these off of another CT member. I felt it was good enough so I sent it off to PMG. This is what a real one looks like and how it graded. The EPG is for Exceptional Paper Quality. Hope this hope you in learning about these types of notes.
-Nice examples @Collecting Nut. EPQ examples at that grade level are hard to come by! It really helps to see an example in such nice condition. Note how the serial # & signature are both darker than the design on your 15 Shillings. The contrast is likely from the use of high quality ink or signature/# were applied well after the note was printed. Also note how the text in the front design is unevenly applied (printing tech wasn't the highest of standards back then). I've seen inconsistent design quality (& uneven borders) too. Instead of writing that the "signatures are way too dark" for the copies, C) I should/could have written: C) on legit notes, expect a notable discrepancy in terms of the contrast between signature (& Serial #) ink & the printed design. Written text on the design can also appear poorly applied along with cutting inconsistencies.
Thank you. You are so correct, especially about the EPQ. I was hoping for a grade of 58 but I’ll take the 55 EPQ instead. I hope the OP checks back in soon and can learn from this.
I purchased some very old printing blocks a while back because they were the right size and the devices were very similar to the designs printed on Continental Currency. I tucked them in the back of the safe for research at a future date when and if I ever get the time.
