Banknotes, when playing Guess The Grade.

As you go along your collecting journey it is almost impossible to NOT end up with a few duplicate notes, whether do to buying a bulk lot that contained a note you already owned, upgrades, winning an auction with a lowball bid, you purposely wanted a second note or you were running up the bid and got stuck with it. Ahem!  No matter the reason I really enjoy having duplicates as it give me an opportunity to further study and learn about the note. My most recent duplicate was a Ukrainian 1918, (Pick# 23) 500 Hryven PMG graded banknote. You don't get to see two of these in the same room very often so I was very pleased when I won this on a lowball bid. When it arrived the first thing I did was measure the thickness of the holder because it felt very thin/flimsy to me and because I'm a maniac.  Turns out the new holder (current generation) was the same thickness as the old (previous generation) holder.  The reason it felt floppy to me is the size of the note/holder, the OD of the holder measures 8 x 6.5. I measured the thickness using my Starrett calipers.

Make sure the jaws are clean and measure between the note and the weld on the edge

Don't touch the weld with the jaws.

The measurement, .025, in that location.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, duplicates. Side by side comparison is the major reason I don't mind having a few duplicates, you can measure the notes, log S/Ns, compare the ink and printing qualities, watermark positions, overprint size, ink and positions, characteristics of the notes in relation to the S/N, etc.. The other reason I enjoy graded duplicates is that it gives you an opportunity to hone your grading skills. So lets get to the game. Below are scans of the two PMG graded notes, front and back. Any guesses? 

Note #1

Note #2