even if the bills is only worth $5 ill keep it anyway.my guesstimate is that his is Au or unc. probably around $6-8. am i right or wrong?
Looks like a series 1995 $5 B-F block. It would not pass as UNC with the centerfold, and may not even grade AU....more like an XF. Keep it if you like it, but to me it's a spender.
The center fold is almost unnoticeable and there is a few corner bends but I think your grade is just too darn harsh and low. Then again grading is just an opinion. And I truly believe that what I have here is au
It's got a center fold in it, corners are or have been bent, sure, it's almost never been circulated! Likely made it's way around the block a few times from that description. I'm not a paper expert but I find these and spend them on yummy snickers bars. :thumb:
"The center fold is almost unnoticeable and there is a few corner bends but I think your grade is just too darn harsh and low. Then again grading is just an opinion. And I truly believe that what I have here is au" You just don't pull on Superman's cape!
That's all I see is the center fold and bent corners. Also, theres a lot of wave along the bottom. It's gotta be a lot better than that to grade AU or UNC.
Everyone has answered your question very well already but why do you want to keep this note regardless of condition and value? While all the problems you listed are glaring to us familiar with paper money and how condition effects grade, even through these low resolution cell phone camera-like quality images, I can't read the Series date on this as Steve has done. But, if it's a Series of 1995, what's so special about this one? It's not a star note, it's not from a low printage, has no fancy SN nor is it remarkable in any other way... So what's so special about this one to you and why create a thread about it? :scratch:
This note is priceless to history and papermoney54 is doing the right thing by saving it regardless of any perceived dollar value. Clearly, he appreciates old and historic notes such as the one he found and wants to share his find with us by making a thread about it. These old style notes have become very tough to find in circulation. Personally, I can go through a great many fives from circulation before finding one. Their numbers decline with each passing day and are not seen too often anymore, this is what makes notes such as this one so special. I can see clear as day that it is a series 1995 without having to look at the date. Seeing as you have some experience with currency, I am surprised that you didn't ascertain the date by simply looking at the signatures. Even with the quality of the pictures, the signatures of Withrow and Rubin jump right out at me.
NOS: At first, reading your post, I thought I was reading sarcasm and that it was a joke coming from you. I guess though you are being serious which puzzles me over a note that's not at all special, rare nor hard to find and in problem free condition at that. I was curious initially why you had 'liked' the OP too. I guess it's conceivable that these are disappearing, but so too are all other notes and we can't save them all let alone all the ones that bear equal amounts of clearly circulated wear. And so my question to the OP about saving this particular note regardless of condition and value remains unanswered. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' in the OP doing so. I was just curious what they thought about this note making such a statement when they clearly misunderstood it's grade. This note will always retain its problems but the same note might be better spent acquiring a GEM note, now while the prices are low, rather than being tucked away because of some superfluous concept about it's 'history' of which old is relative and historic scant at best, neither of which impart added value to this particular Series or individual note. The time spent sifting through circulated notes for supposed "keepers" from circulation, such as this example is quite a bit of effort and time spent when one can easily pick these up in actual problem free UNC Gem condition. Not sure what your advice is doing to educate the OP by encouraging tucking away such problems. Now as I stated not being able to read the Series on the note, the same goes for the signatures, as I mentioned the low resolution images were insufficient for reading text. I'm glad you and Steve could see enough details to figure that out for us, but I could not read it, which has nothing to do with my experience with notes, but more to do with poor quality images and my eyes ability to read the small script that looks like fuzzy blobs even on the images that pop up when I mouse over them in the OP.
Krispy, you bring up some good points but did you not consider that part of the fun in collecting these old notes is actually finding them in circulation? Anyone can buy these notes in Gem CU condition on ebay or a coin show all day long but finding them at a bank or being given one as change at a store is priceless and becomes less common with each passing day.
While the OP may find an AU note in circulation, they most certainly did not this time find an AU note as they speculated they had in this case. And, they most certainly cannot find an UNC note in circulation, as the OP further indicated they may have. The OP felt that is what they had found despite the heavily visible wear, folds and bumps that the OP even pointed out for us as 'almost unnoticeable'. No, I didn't forget about finding enjoyment in things pulled from circulation, but I was being realistic and even frugal about suggesting one ought to obtain notes of the level the OP thought they had found by buying them now while the supply is available and prices lower for AU or UNC notes of this Series. Doing so is a time and money saving move. Doing so now rather than putting such a problem note into a collection, misunderstanding the grade and value among collectors, only to learn later on that the actual grade and value is much less, is a costlier mistake to correct once more time has passed, and such notes in those grades (may) have risen in value. The OP's inexperience and optimism left them to feel they were getting added value for finding something in circulation at face value. Per the OPs inquiry we are trying to help them to not misunderstand what it is they have. Despite this part of the conversation I was curious why despite the grade and value not being what the OP thought they were, why the note was special enough to collect anyway. One more thing, finding something in circulation is not "priceless" as you put it. In this case, it's $5. If the OP want's a note like this to maintain value beyond face, they will certainly do better over the long run to learn early on to spend such finds as financial resources for obtaining problem free notes or those notes in the finest grade their budget allows them to obtain, while the prices are lower and supply more readily available. In time, quality of the pieces we place in our collections will reflect a more valuable collection, will build a more handsome looking collection (eye appeal), as well as save us money for not having to pay higher prices later to replace notes we thought were AU or UNC made when we were beginners collecting and or expecting to find a value in something that was not there to begin with.
For grading and value of the note, the problems of the center fold along with corner bends would not allow a grade above About New, with XF a very real possibility. Based on that and the age of the note, a dollar premium is all you would realize on this note IMO. http://www.pcgscurrency.com/g_scale.html
im still keeping this note regardless of your opinions. i like it i want it im keeping it end of story. at the end of the day its my collection, and i decide what i do with it.
I think you might have missed the point in the above discussion we had while you were away. No one said you can't keep or collect anything you choose for what ever reason you like. However, despite what has been shared with you to help better inform you about the grade and value of the note in question, that this particular note in fact lacks any significance numismatically, in that it has not got features sought by collectors (fancy SNs, stars, etc.), why is this note so special to you? Was it a gift from someone, was it your first time ever finding a small size note that's a little bit older and still in circulation, some other less than obvious reason you have? What is your personal reason besides 'it's mine, I decide'? Of course it's your's, you decide. What does it mean to you, how did you decide on this note, what does it mean for your collection and your current collecting interests?
No one said not to keep it. We were just pointing out that it is far from the grade you thought it was.
Saving notes like this, found in circulation, is the equivalent of saving State Quarters found in circulation. I fail to see anything historic or priceless about this note. The note in question this time is a series 1995 $5 B-F block, printed in November 1998 .Threads like this are mainstays of this forum and inevitabley end up being divided into two camps. Camp One sees history and collectibility in just about any note printed 10 years ago or more, regardless of condition or serial number. This reminds me of collecting coins when I was a kid, and filling the blue, Whitman coin folders with coins found in circulation. This was fun, challenging, educational and an inexpensive way of entering and enjoying numismatics. Nothing wrong with this, but nothing historic or priceless, more like a hobby. If you are collecting $5's, and want to try and find every block of series 1995 $5 , (there are 62, not including star notes) then you are on your way....just 61 more to complete your set. Camp Two will try and give you an honest evaluation of condition and value, and let you decide whether to keep the note, trade the note, sell the note, or spend the note. We see this all the time......is this an error?, what's this worth?, is a $2 bill worth more than $2?, was this a good deal?, keeper's or spender's?....the list goes on and on. That's how we all learn about the hobby. Camp two loves finding cool, old notes in circulation, but also doesn't mind spending above face value for notes they collect. Good thread papermoney54....like I said in my original post, "Keep it if you like it, but to me it's a spender"
