Buyer beware of cleaned notes

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ThePloughman
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by ThePloughman »

I dont like cleaned or pressed notes, it's like polishing a coin, you can see the added scratches. It is adding damage to something, which then degrades it a bit more, that's what then reduces the value imho.
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Mac
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by Mac »

Hmm, I think we have reached a new low in terms of vandalism and stupidity with this note which has been bleached beyond any reasonable degree!

The unwashed note, pictured first, was recorded from ebay back in March 2018. When it was again seen on ebay in November, offered by a different seller, it had suffered a catastrophic encounter with some kind of bleaching agent. Curiously, this seller seems to have had a lot of washed notes.
They are destroying a lot of their own wealth with their bleach, it would appear!

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ThePloughman
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by ThePloughman »

Gee, they sure junked that one. What a shame. Just about worth its face value now.
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gaelicyoda
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by gaelicyoda »

I was actually going to post something similar when I saw this on ebay - a new low indeed! :o
Like, why even bother putting it up for sale in that state?

No pity for the amount of money this idiot is costing themselves, the only sad thing here is that otherwise perfectly good notes are getting caught in the crossfire... and this guy has been at this for months/years which begs the question - how many times do you have to put your notes in a meat grinder before you realise, hey, nobody's buying these and I'm absolutely trashing them? What an absolute idiot.
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DOC
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by DOC »

Sorry to see an even worse example for sale on ebay. Even the serial number has all but disappeared. :shock:
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DOC
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by DOC »

Just noticed that it is the same note as above but processed further !
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Mac
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by Mac »

Some people just don't know when to put the bleach away. The note may well be deteriorating as a result of its being washed in whatever it was washed in.
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JohnnyQ
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by JohnnyQ »

I’m probably missing this but isn’t it really obvious that the “washed” notes are colour photocopies? Washing or pressing notes are not going to repair very heavy crumples on the edges. As has happened in a number of the edges. It looks like it’s people trying to pass of photocopies as low grade notes.
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by DOC »

Imho, these are not photocopies but examples of disastrously washed notes.
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by JohnnyQ »

Have a look at the £5 on the first page of this thread. The bottom two corners are missing and there is a small tear at the top left. On the second picture all the corners and edges are completely sharp. That’s impossible to do by washing a real note. Also I handle forged notes fairly regularly, in the bank obviously and not in a criminal capacity 😂, and there is a particular “look” and colour to a colour photocopied banknote that jumps out and to me just about all the pics jump out at me as a colour photocopy. Why else would you keep washing and washing a note until it almost disappears. It looks more like a colour copy that is being roughed up to look very damaged. When you do that to a photocopy the print just falls off the paper.
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by DOC »

JohnnyQ, interesting to hear about attempts to pass off colour photocopies as real notes. While it is difficult to be 100% sure without the actual ‘notes’ in our hands, I think the images can be explained as cleaned notes.

It seems to me that the corners of the original £5 National Bank note are folded over rather than missing. Washing and pressing has flattened the corners so that they are visible again. You can also see that there are faint lines on the pressed note associated with the original folds and creases. On the £1 notes, you can see the watermark harp. I am not sure that this would be picked up in a photocopy.

Just to be clear, the processing of these notes has totally destroyed their value. A disastrous activity to be avoided at all costs !
Last edited by DOC on 09 May 2020 10:28, edited 1 time in total.
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Mac
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by Mac »

JohnnyQ wrote: 07 May 2020 15:44Washing or pressing notes are not going to repair very heavy crumples on the edges.
Indeed. But it doesn't stop people washing and steam-ironing them in an effort to make them look better. Nasty, but it happens.
JohnnyQ wrote: 07 May 2020 15:44It looks like it’s people trying to pass of photocopies as low grade notes.
This happens also—there is a thread on Ploughman forgeries dating from an occasion where colour forgeries of low grade Ploughman notes were being offered on an online sales site as genuine notes.

Referring to the first picture, £5 03BK 008632, were it to be a colour copy it would be expected that the mouldy areas would be reproduced accurately, rather than bleached out. Also, the folds and creases would be shown in the copy in three dimensions, not washed flat. Making a copy of a used note wouldn’t flatten it out.
There is a small edge nick in the bottom centre which is still on the cleaned note, and all the folds and creases are still there, ironed flat.

People do also sell colour copies of these notes on sales sites, they chose nicer ones to make copies of.

People are buying cheap notes, and laundering them so as to make them appear nicer—essentially this is forgery of grade. They have been doing this for decades, washing the grubby notes, applying a bit of spray starch to firm them up afterwards.

Occasionally some novice washer uses too much bleach, or cleans a mouldy note which disintegrates, as seen with £1 note 05BA 049506.

I don’t see any reason to defend the stupidity of banknote washers who accidentally use too much bleach. Morons.
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JohnnyQ
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Re: Buyer beware of cleaned notes

Post by JohnnyQ »

It beggars belief how idiotic they are. 🙄
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