Acrylic currency holders

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Any particular reason why anyone would use a screw-down acrylic holder? (Other than flattening out folds and making an EF note look like an AU or UNC, particularly in pics for online auctions.)  Seems like an expensive and bulky way to store notes not to mention damaging original notes by getting rid of the embossing.  Then again, maybe these are just used to sell the note.
  

These holders do not crush the notes. They just merely protect them.

For more expensive notes this is the best way to prevent "Accidental" damage to the note. All too many times I have seen someone mis-handle a note with disastrous results.

I know many people who use them for older notes that are really thin paper as well (Dominion notes).

They can be expensive but I have not heard of a note being "Damaged" by a holder that was properly used. Not sure if anyone else has any experience with them.

If they protect as intended, it stops the damage done to notes in cheap holder due to fondling. A good way to store notes.

Rick

If they protect as intended, it stops the damage done to notes in cheap holder due to fondling.

Is the "fondling" of banknotes an offence under the Criminal Code if no damage to the note occurs and consent was given ?  

Is the "fondling" of banknotes an offence under the Criminal Code if no damage to the note occurs and consent was given

 

I meant the screw-down type that holds the note like a vise, not the ones that some TPG notes are housed in which the note can rattle around in.  The screw-down type must surely press the note.

I assure you the notes are not crushed in there.

Thanks

The fondling of notes in cheap holders, the constantly pulling them out, looking at them closely, touching raw paper soon turns Unc notes into a lesser grade.
Do what you want when it is your note, not when someone else owns it. Holders that protect notes properly are ideal.
I have seen notes crinkled, torn, folded etc, and otherwise damaged by those that think it is their right to fondle someone elses material. A painfull subject at shows. Nothing quite like a nice Unc note being pulled from its holder and laid on the hand of someone who wished a close up inspection. 3 or 4 times, it is now an AU.

Rick

This is extremely annoying when one inspects an UNC note at a show and then when one bids and wins the note and when it arrives it has a 1 cm tear from handling. This has happened to me on an obsolete note I paid full catalog value for.  It must be even more disturbing for the consignors if their note does not sell and gets returned one grade lower than what was submitted.  That is why I would be very hesitant to consign notes to an auctioneer. Some auctioneers seal the mylar holder so the note cannot be fondled at the shows.  I think this is actually a good thing.

Not a real problem for the buyer, if he deals with a professional dealer from an auction house. It can be returned. Deal with a CAND dealer, a lot less problems encountered.

I have seen paper money ripped by being fondled at an auction viewing session, and coffee spilled on notes, which pretty much ruins them. The auctioneer should be insured for such losses.  The consignor of the notes can take a real beating sometimes, which makes holders that are tamper proof that much better.

It is not a criminal offense to look closely at note being offered, even when the owen says it is alright to fondle them. The person looking who damages the note is responsible for any damage. Except for circulated notes, no one gets to fondle anything that I am selling.

Rick

I have sometimes asked to see UNC notes out of the holder and after seeing how the viewing staff handled the note, I regretted asking to see it out of its holder.  I think it wise to not allow handling of UNC notes.

Rigid acrylic holders are heavy, bulky and a nuisance to take apart but they do protect notes well from inadvertent handling damage and dropping. However, whatever you do, don't spill red wine or coffee on the holder because the liquid will imbibe instantaneously through the gap between the plates via the well-known scientific principle of "capillarity" and the liquid will be all over the note inside the holder before you know what has happened (and it will take you several fumbling minutes to open up the holder)! It's the same, of course, with regular mylar holders, and I'm not joking. Believe me my friends because I've done it. I ruined half a dozen scarcer AU/UNC asterisk notes with red wine about two years ago and I had to sacrifice them on eBay at a small fraction of what they were originally worth. I extracted the notes pronto and raced to the wash basin but I was too late, the staining damage had already been done. By the way, these were the only notes that I've washed and pressed in the last twenty years!

A good thing about rigid acrylic holders is that they allow the notes to breath whereas TPG plastic holders do not. By way of example, I purchased a large collection of foreign coins recently that had literally not seen the light of day for 25-40 years. The large majority of the 2" x 2" plastic coin holders were sticky and gooey inside although I was able to clean up the coins fairly easily using grease-removing solvents such as acetone. Even annual sets of coins in soft plastic holders from the highly respected Royal Australian Mint and the Japanese Mint had suffered the same "gooey" fate (see image below showing the notorious "green slime" on a 1979 set)! However, once a bank note has been similarly affected by the gooey slime it's usually "curtains" (I've seen these greasy "translucent" notes offered on eBay from time to time).

I'm sure that TPG (e.g., PMG) sealed plastic holders will be safe for 5-10 years, but what about 20 or 30 years with no air circulation whatsoever and with all of the inevitable bacteria and mold spores breeding inside ..... ?! Would you want to take a chance on a US $1000 "Grand Watermelon" note worth $2,000,000 ..... ??

Come to think of it, do the TPG companies seal their notes in a vacuum environment??

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Ottawa,

That is a very good question.  I wonder if they work under a hood like researchers working with RNA.