Ottawa: Neat info, but how can you tell for sure if the note has been pressed or washed? Really, I need to know. .......... It's true, some notes could be pressed with a piece of clothes in between without direct contact with the iron and it wouldn't lose any fiber then, so then what's the special evidence that would lead one to conclude a note being washed or pressed?
The best and easiest answer regarding washing/pressing is
"I know it when I see it", but I realize that's not very helpful. There are so many different types of washing and pressing, e.g.,
1. Dry pressing (no water) in direct contact with a hot iron.
2. Dry pressing (no water) in indirect contact with a hot iron between sheets of paper.
3. Wet pressing (with water) in direct contact with a hot iron.
4. Wet pressing (with water) in indirect contact with a hot iron between sheets of paper.
5. Wet pressing (with water) inside a book with 20 other books piled on top (no hot iron present).
6. Wet pressing with bleach using (3), (4) & (5) above.
7. Wet
stretching until dry (yes, I've actually seen a banknote stretcher!)
.... and the list goes on and on. Some people I know use a book press or a vise to create an extremely high pressure.
The best way to find out if a note has been washed/pressed is to press some cheap circulated 1954 or later notes yourself using different processing strategies and then look at the final product carefully. Generally speaking, if the note is as flat as a sheet of glass yet shows signs of former folds and missing ink along fold lines then it has been processed in some way. Also, on higher grade notes that have been pressed the embossing of the serial numbers will usually be missing on the back. Another giveaway is wavy ripples and wrinkles in the horizontal margins where the paper has expanded or contracted during the pressing process. Good luck!
« Last Edit: February 24, 2009, 05:16:29 pm by Ottawa »
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" Buy the very best notes that you can afford and keep them for at least 10 years. " (Richard D. Lockwood, private communication, 1978).