Australian-Coins Forum

Numismatic Discussion => Coin and Banknote Grading => Topic started by: LeighInOz on April 27, 2026, 09:20:37 PM

Title: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: LeighInOz on April 27, 2026, 09:20:37 PM
What are people's opinions on unsealing professionally graded notes?

I'm considering a pair of consecutive last prefix polymer $20 notes at the moment to finish my $20 collection. I prefer my notes raw to put in my folder. Is it sacrilege to open graded notes, even if they're nothing too special?
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: Basilstate on April 28, 2026, 08:33:03 AM
:welcome:

I try to stay away from Notes but best not to open graded Notes,IMO.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: LeighInOz on April 28, 2026, 04:27:02 PM
Quote from: 'Basilstate' pid='130874' dateline='1777330983':welcome:

I try to stay away from Notes but best not to open graded Notes,IMO.

I see. What I'm considering is nothing spectacular; only modern polymer notes. I don't know why someone thought they were worth professionally grading anyway. The market is so soft for polymers at the moment that lots of dealers don't even bother to stock them anymore.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: redlock on April 28, 2026, 04:37:15 PM
Quote from: 'LeighInOz' pid='130873' dateline='1777290637'I prefer my notes raw to put in my folder. 

So do I. 
By the way, I only have a very small collection and I intend to keep it this way.


I stay way from grades notes (= I do not buy them) although I can understand why many collectors like them, especially with older and old notes. But I am not one of those collectors.

In my eyes, removing notes from graded folders is a financial decision. Can you afford to lose money on removing notes from the graded folders (the price for grading is a part of the selling price)? If you can and if the notes are not too special I would seriously consider freeing them from the plastic coffins.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: WavyTwenty on April 29, 2026, 10:12:02 AM
Consider buying other ungraded notes as you will probably get them for a lower price.

Grading seems to increase the value of the item somewhat, if for nothing else than the price of grading.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: LeighInOz on April 30, 2026, 08:25:23 PM
Quote from: 'redlock' pid='130876' dateline='1777360035'So do I. 
By the way, I only have a very small collection and I intend to keep it this way.


I stay way from grades notes (= I do not buy them) although I can understand why many collectors like them, especially with older and old notes. But I am not one of those collectors.

In my eyes, removing notes from graded folders is a financial decision. Can you afford to lose money on removing notes from the graded folders (the price for grading is a part of the selling price)? If you can and if the notes are not too special I would seriously consider freeing them from the plastic coffins.

I can't understand why these modern polymers were professionally graded, though. Maybe they were graded a long time ago when the market was stronger. Maybe because they're last prefixes. I've considered buying them and carefully cutting them out.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: LeighInOz on April 30, 2026, 08:28:20 PM
Quote from: 'WavyTwenty' pid='130879' dateline='1777423322'Consider buying other ungraded notes as you will probably get them for a lower price.

Grading seems to increase the value of the item somewhat, if for nothing else than the price of grading.

That's the funny thing; I've been offered a 'special' price, one better than the ungraded notes I can find. The raw notes have been available for 3 years without selling. This suggests the market is much softer than dealers would like to think.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: Basilstate on May 01, 2026, 08:30:08 AM
Quote from: 'LeighInOz' pid='130881' dateline='1777546700'That's the funny thing; I've been offered a 'special' price, one better than the ungraded notes I can find. The raw notes have been available for 3 years without selling. This suggests the market is much softer than dealers would like to think.

Yes,the Coin/Notes market is extremely soft at the moment especially for Pre.Dec. but also generally.

Interesting to see what effect the Ebay changes will have.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: LeighInOz on May 01, 2026, 10:25:00 AM
Quote from: 'Basilstate' pid='130882' dateline='1777590008'Interesting to see what effect the Ebay changes will have.

Indeed, it will be interesting. I used to see a lot of "cat value $XXX" to try to sell things "below catalogue value" - that was the primary selling point because it automatically made things look like they were on sale. While it was true that the prices at which items were offered were below catalogue value, they were still too high. Now I see a lot of "eBay charges 13% to sell collectables" as the justification for prices. I've been searching for years now for sensible prices. I'm happy to wait longer still to fill some of the remaining gaps. I'm not sure I'll ever get a BA95 $5 or BA15 $5 at a non-crazy price though.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: gweidion on May 05, 2026, 12:00:39 AM
You should never be paying catalogue value. Aim for somewhere around 40% less than catalogue value imo.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: Basilstate on May 05, 2026, 08:21:47 AM
Quote from: 'gweidion' pid='130888' dateline='1777905039'You should never be paying catalogue value. Aim for somewhere around 40% less than catalogue value imo.

Yes,good advice,book value is just a guide especially since Ebay started.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: autocoupler on May 05, 2026, 12:45:33 PM
In many cases 50% book is too much IMHO
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: LeighInOz on May 12, 2026, 10:37:41 AM
This thread is now off-topic, but I agree. Catalogue price has been irrelevant in the Australian market since at least the early 2010s. The market collapsed around that time; the catalogue prices were never adjusted to reflect that. There are notes that catalogue at, say, $500 and go unsold at auctions with a starting bid of $100 now.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: Tanecoins on June 12, 2026, 04:34:30 PM
Open them up, its your collection, do what you want. Especially if they are modern Polymers. All my notes are raw as well too.

For some reason, we just have so many rules with collecting anything nowadays. Hobbies are meant to be fun, I mean I could be like Uncle Scrooge and swim through my coins and some of these ivory tower collectors would be having Konniptions, but so what. I mean did they pay for your collection - NO? so its none of their business.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: gweidion on June 13, 2026, 02:13:20 PM
I'd love to do a Scrooge McDuck. How he doesn't brain himself diving into coins is cool, especially when the Beagle Boys knock themselves out trying to do it.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: Mister T on June 28, 2026, 08:59:51 AM
How thick are the note holders anyway?
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: gweidion on June 29, 2026, 09:04:33 AM
Scrooge's money bin is usually full of coins.
Title: RE: Opinions on opening graded notes
Post by: Tanecoins on July 28, 2026, 07:55:15 AM
Also Scrooge is a duck, ducks glide gracefully through water, the Beagle Boys are dogs, dogs paddle (Haha ha).

Given Scrooge's age, I would say he has had decades perfecting the art of money swimming.