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Guatemala P-31?

6 posts in this topic

Posted

I'm not sure if anything is wrong with th banknote, but I suspect something may be wrong with the attribution by the grading service. ( But then I'm neither a collector nor an expert. Nor do I have the book available.) But the slab label says P 31 and indicates it to be a 1955 - 57 issue, but the note has a 1958 authorization printed on it making me suspect it is a later issue so maybe not actually a P 31.

Posted

¡Hola!

 

Indeed, it's not P-31. It's P-38!

How can it happens?

PMG says that only "experts" - and not only one, THREE of them (http://www.pmgnotes.com/grading/grading1.asp) - will estimate the banknote. Are they blind? And you've paid for them, the minimum fee is $20 (http://www.pmgnotes.com/services/services.asp).

How can I be sure for the next time they don't make any mistake again?

And it's easy to see the difference on this simple banknote from Guatemala - I needed 1 minute to check the catalog number.

Guatemala isn't a difficult country in the World Paper Money by Krause - take a look at Paraguay or Nepal!

What will those "experts" do if they should estimate a banknote from those countries?

And how can I be sure they'll detect the "Singapur-unc"? You know, some dealers from South Eastern Asia repair, press and clean their notes for a better looking.

I cannot trust any of those grading companies any longer - and I'm very happy that almost all non-american dealers and collectors are a little bit smarter to decline those grading companies.

 

 

Adíos

Ronny

Posted

Hey they are a GRADING service and that's what they do, there GRADE the note. Chances are quite good that the identification was provided by the submitter of the note and keyed into the computer exactly as it was written on the invoice. Same thing happens with the coin grading. You put down incorrect information on the invoice, you will often get back a slab with incorrect information on the label. Sometimes they will notice and correct obvious errors, but even if their people are "experts", how many people do you know who can look at any note and attribute it by catalog number without taking the time to actually look them up? Some of the most frequently seen ones sure, but not a lot of them.

 

And if it is like it is with the coin grading, the person examining the note may not even know what the invoice said it was. When it is entered into the computer a barcode sticker is generated and placed on the holder. The grader just picks up the note, scans the barcode, enters his grade into the computer, and goes to the next note. He doesn't double check attributions unless that service has been paid for and it would be done separately from the grading.