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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Notaphylic_C, post: 8199194, member: 130786&quot;]It really takes a while for a collector to pick up the differences between a soft pressed banknote VS a hard (ironed) pressed note.&nbsp; Actually the ironed pressed notes are the easiest to detect because the heat saps the colour and the notes becomes dull. Ironed (hard pressed) notes are easy to spot.&nbsp; A soft pressed note is a bit more challenging. Its a note that&#039;s been left in between books or flattened by weights over time. You can tell that b/c there&#039;s no folds/creases (where you can see the lines from the creases/folds) and the note is flat. Its usually a bit soiled but flattened out for the VF &amp; lower grades. No embossing (where the serial numbers were printed) shadows from the back of the note. This would be hard to see in notes that are VF or lower (like the notes you&#039;ve posted). Most of the old notes we see have been pressed and many have also been washed (literally washed in water with detergent). You don&#039;t need bleach. Detergents can clean up a note (brighten it up) but the paper becomes limp &amp; they even shrink a bit after drying. Sometimes details in the fine print (serial numbers/signatures) become a bit blotchy after washing.</p><p><br /></p><p>I bought a few soft-pressed notes which I graded years later (&amp; got no &quot;Original&quot; or &quot;EPQ&quot; designation). They&#039;re the really tough ones to spot as they usually were <b>EF-AU</b> &amp; looked pretty good to begin with, but the owner left them under weights to flatten them out. I still see collectors posting enquiries on how to flatten out their notes on other forums (&amp; my short answer is &quot;no&quot;) but there&#039;s many seasoned collectors who advise steaming &amp; all sorts of gimmicks (just &#039;doctoring&#039; a note in my books). If you&#039;re an honest collector you just don&#039;t alter a note in any way. Wrinkles are better to see than a flattened out note.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reason I encourage new collectors to seek <b>TPG</b> (Third Party Graded) notes (esp online) is b/c its so hard to discern the soft pressed notes from UNC. Scans make it nearly impossible to detect one from the other. It&#039;s an unfortunate fact that there are still many characters out there who will continue to doctor/process their notes to make them look better &amp; that&#039;s one of the reasons I have to endorse <b>TPG </b>(especially for the more pricey notes).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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