Tear in a $100 Canadian bill

[patrickharley]

I'm very new at collecting paper money and I can't seem to find anything on the following subject. (Maybe I'm not looking in the right places.) I just acquired a 1975 Canadian $100 bill and noticed it had a 5/8" tear on the bottom. The bill shows some signs of wear but overall it's not too bad. When a person gets a bill in this condition (torn), what is the appropriate thing to do? Leave it just the way it is or can or should the tear be repaired, if that is even possible, to prevent the tear from spreading further up the bill? I'm guessing the proper thing to do is to carefully put it in a plastic sleeve and leave it as it is. Does anyone have an opinion or some advice on how to handle this? It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[davebird13]

If it was me, I would leave just as it is.  To add tape or attempt to repair it could do more damage.  Overtime, the tape would yellow and become noticeable and distract from the beauty of the banknote.  I would carefully insert it in a plastic sleeve so that additional handling will not affect the banknote.  

[patrickharley]

I thought that too, but I thought it would be good to get an opinion from someone with more knowledge than myself on this subject. I'll follow your recommendation. Thanks.

[kweb1965]

Do not try to repair it.  I would be better to have it graded and encapsulated to preserve it.  PMG grades Canadian and they do a great job.  I recently sent in over 100 notes from Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Krygrzstan, Russia, etc) and I am waiting to get them back.  If you want to save some money, the Canadian Graders also grade them for about ten dollars US (12 or 14 Canadian). The two Canadian Graders are Canadian Coin Certification Service (CCCS, both coins and bills and will grade all bills) and Banknote Certification Service Ltd (BCS, only grades Canadian notes).  PMG, CCCS, BCS, and PGCS notes can be listed on Ebay.  Personally, I like PMG first, but CCCS also does a great job and I use them for all my Canadian and British notes.  As far as your notes, I would grade it since the Canadian Government is pulling all non-polymer bills and destroying them.  The price of them are going up, depending which one you have.

Kevin