1935 Bank of Canada $50, BC-13, PMG AU 53 'previously mounted'

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Getting this back next week from PMG.
Coming back graded a 53 AU with a note 'previously mounted'. No NET grade.
Thoughts?

more detailed pics...

http://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6590/fwyEXw.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/5671/4ovRPG.jpg

Nice note, but anything graded by PMG as AU and lacking the designation of originality is going to be treated with a certain degree of skepticism from collectors.

"Previously mounted," hmm?  Indeed.  Have a look at what this note looked like previously:

"Previously mounted," hmm?  Indeed.  Have a look at what this note looked like previously:

Maybe should have said "Previously stained"   

It is unfortunate when one is unaware of the history of a note ....this is the type of thing that can make a collector very bitter of the hobby if they are not aware of what to look for .... hopefully you did not over pay on this "tampered with" note.

I've had a request to remove this thread.  I decided not to as it would not be in the best interests of potential buyers to bury the unfortunate history of this note.

I've had a request to remove this thread.  I decided not to as it would not be in the best interests of potential buyers to bury the unfortunate history of this note.

To BWJM's post and others, what's so wrong with having a stain removed? The note was not altered but just brought back to its original state.
It was not pressed, no colour added or touched up. Why the big deal?

Taking a look at PMG, the note did not get anyone of the following designations, which they obviously watch for...

Altered Note    
Any note that has been manipulated to create the appearance that it is a different variety or type of note, e.g. fabricated error notes.

Repairs    
Describes an attempt to fix a note by a non-professional, in the opinion of PMG graders. This determination is made by examining the technique of the repair and the materials used.

Restoration    
Restoration describes work to fix a note's flaws performed by a professional, in the opinion of PMG graders. Higher quality materials and more refined techniques are used on notes described as having Restoration than on notes described as having Repairs.

What's the problem? PMG didn't find any.

To BWJM's post and others, what's so wrong with having a stain removed? The note was not altered but just brought back to its original state.
It was not pressed, no colour added or touched up. Why the big deal?

The stain was removed by "someone" and it is a processed note.
According to Charlton's ...a processed note refers to "cleaning" as well as other things.
Therefore the note is NOT original and it has been altered in an attempt to make it look original.
(whether to try to increase its value or deceive one from what it use to be)
I think if you ask any collector the fact that the stain was removed by some process it should be disclosed and leave
it up to a buyer to pay what they feel it is worth....but knowing that it has been cleaned...
This is my opinion yet I am sure many others will agree...
IF I personally bought a note and later found this to be the case I would be really pissed off to say the least

To BWJM's post and others, what's so wrong with having a stain removed? The note was not altered but just brought back to its original state.
It was not pressed, no colour added or touched up. Why the big deal?

The Problem with it is that someone has treated this note with something that would remove the stain(i.e. chemical,soap). Depending on what treated this particular note, the foreign cleaner could start to deteriorate the note over time.

  Any alteration of a banknote to make it look better is not desired by a serious collector. There will be a lot of serious collectors in the hobby that have images saved from harder to get banknotes from all over, and when they come up again they have the original image to compare to.

 There are lots of different modifications that could be done to alter a banknote to as you say (to its original state).  You have probably familiar with "pressed and cleaned", this can be detrimental to a banknote as stated above for cleaning. Pressed will take many folds and get rid of them but the side effect of this also gets rid of the embossing of the note . There is replacing missing pieces, there are even crooked people that split a paper banknote in half and reattach them to make an inverted error note increase the value of a common note to astronomical value. Even the polymer notes we use now can be treated with a light chemical and remove serial numbers, holograms, actually you can remove everything and make it a blank piece of plastic.

 I guess the only thing is do you like your note? If you are happy with it that is great and now you know a bit of history about it.

 Wayne

As this has been mentioned time and time again...."BUY THE NOTE, NOT THE HOLDER"
It is well known that TPG's do make mistakes, and fortunately Brent has a photo of the note prior to its amazing
non processing...that proves this point.

A comparison of the two scans of the note also leads me to believe the once-quite-rounded bottom left corner has been restored and made quite square. Any else notice that?

In hindsight I didn't realize the severity of buying a stained note.
I was assured the stain was removed using the utmost best methods.
It is what it is, what can I do now.

In hindsight I didn't realize the severity of buying a stained note.
I was assured the stain was removed using the utmost best methods.
It is what it is, what can I do now.

What can you do now?...let us know who assured you that the stain would be removed using the upmost best methods
so we don't get taken with this sellers other great notes..
 

Another request has come in to delete not just this thread, but the original poster's entire account and all posts made by them.  Again, request denied.

It is in the best interests of collectors to know about not just this note and its storied history, but the entire practice of cleaning, pressing and otherwise tampering with banknotes for the purpose of improving their appearance, condition, value and/or appear to buyers.  It is well understood by advanced collectors the long-term damage that these practices can do to a note for a quick buck, but novice collectors, perhaps including the original poster, are not as experienced and could be easily misled, intentionally or otherwise.

I'm sure the original poster is embarrassed, ashamed, angry and probably will even suffer a financial loss because of their mistake.  But you know what?  We all have at one point or another, myself included.  It is forums like this one, and indeed threads like this one that serve to educate collectors so that we make fewer mistakes and that the ones we do make are not quite as expensive as perhaps this one might be.

If you want a cover up, go ask some U.S. government official about all the UFOs stored at Area 51.