"MINT" is it a grade or a Flavour !

News: Welcome to the Canadian Paper Money Forum.

 I have commonly seen this description used in U.K and Australia auction sights for the description of Papermoney. I have more recently seen it leak into the Canadian auction sight as a descriptive for the grade of a particular note or note(s). Quite troubling to see for even the novice collector, I hope due deligence is used in bidding on any material, and definately hope the buyer follows up accordingly buy obtaining atleast a scan albeit not a washed out one.
Double check to make sure a refund is possible first and foremost, and descriptive is atleast accompanied by UNC. I brought a couple new collectors into the business and One has been burned already. I guess you can only leed them to water ! 

Explain further, if you would.

Rick

My Friend purchased an Irish Note for 45 pounds, roughly 60 % of list price in UNC which seemed not out of the ordinary. The descriptive used in the title was "MINT CONDITION", and after looking later at the link it seemed like one of those pre-paste software pictures some powersellers post to save time when mass selling. (Totally Gem Uncirculated pic)
He later sent me a scan of the actual note he recieved and it was no greater than a VG. The small print said no overseas returns. Never assume MINT means uncirculated I guess, only a small burn I suppose !

Mint condition is a layman's term. Collectors of paper money should never use this term, in my opinion, because mints have nothing to do with paper money, which is printed.

Thanks for the information.
Mint was used as a scam to steal your money.
"Mint" produces coins, "mint" coin is a new one.
Bank of Canada and others have notes printed by various companies, new ones are uncirculated or specimen, they cannon be mint.

Rick

I guess this was learned the hard way.

Unless you know the seller I would not bid on items with no pictures or a picture which is not of the actual item.  In your case I believe the seller is no better than a thief.  I also don’t understand the point of no overseas returns. Why should it matter where you are from? I know a lot of people are not fond of Paypal but in this case you could of gone to them and receive the full refund due to item not as described.

One would assume that "mint" condition describes something in new condition, such as a mint condition 57 chevy, like the type that Jay Leno would buy, and it should mean showroom condition. Paper described like that does not have a definite meaning.
I am not sure it was meant to deceive, perhaps it does. With stuff like no returns on overseas sales makes that person's products be one to avoid.

Rick

The misnomer "mint" is bantied around far too often on online auctions.  I tend avoid sellers who use this misleading term.  When I was a teen I bought an *A/Y $1.00 from a dealer that was described as "mint."  After learning more about grading notes, how to inspect them, etc, I learned that this note was AU at best.  We all learn the hard way. I think if you are going to purchase a note from a dealer who uses that term than you can expect the note to be EF+ to AU (at best).

"Mint" is widely used in the philatelic world to describe postage stamps in unused condition (ie with the original gum, never been stuck to an envelope, etc.)  The term is also commonly used in the sports card and comic book collecting worlds.

So it isn't surprising that the term occasionally leaks over to the paper money collecting world.  It's natural for stamp and sports card collectors to assume that "mint" would be used for paper money too.  Granted, it's not a proper term, but let's give people the benefit of the doubt and first assume that they are simply inexperienced, rather than trying to pull off a scam.  Buyer beware, of course.