Paper Money Grading at RealBanknotes.com
- Written by
Proteus - Published on January 27th, 2013
- Read 4526 Times
Grading paper money is something fairly essential to collecting banknotes. It can denote both value and rarity. Several organizations exist that can do this for collectors for a price. These organizations include the likes of PMG, CGA, and PCGS and these are the most common ones seen on eBay. Of course this type of service assures the future buyers of your banknotes of not only its value, but also of its authenticity. These services are quite expensive, in my opinion, but in some cases are quite worth their fees. In the case of truly rare banknotes, or scarce paper money in exceptionally good condition a verified grading by a third party can definitely increase the number of bids in an auction environment.
At RealBanknotes.com we do not offer this service. However, for the purpose of certain listings and especially in the case of our eBay sales histories, we do try to gauge banknote condition in at least an approximate manner. Unlike professional companies, we do not inspect every note based on a 70 point scale. We do not have the time, so we gauge paper money based on the photos we see in listings or that are sent to us. Again, we are not professionals, and we do not really care to be; however, we do want to inform you on our general grading guidelines.
We stick strictly to what we call the 'letter grading' standards of, from worst condition to best.
- P = Poor
- G = Good (which is not good at all, actually)
- VG = Very Good
- F = Fine
- VF = Very Fine
- EF = Extremely Fine
- AUNC = About Uncirculated
- UNC = Uncirculated
Furthermore, we don't really use grading divisions such as EF+ or VF++. We stick to the basics, so to speak. But pictures are worth a thousand words, so here is the approximate grading scheme that we try to stick to:
Uncirculated Condition Paper Money (UNC)
About Uncirculated Condition Paper Money (AUNC)
Extremely Fine Condition Paper Money (EF)
Very Fine Condition Paper Money (VF)
Fine Condition Paper Money (F)
Very Good Condition Paper Money (VG)
Good Condition Paper Money (G)
Poor Condition Paper Money (P)
As a general rule, we don't even list sales for paper money in poor condition. This grading scheme can be used to assist you in making the best of our eBay sales histories. This element of RealBanknotes.com is a unique feature that can help you determine whether you are getting a deal on eBay when bidding on banknotes.
