How do you use the Charlton paper money guide?

Post here if you want to sell, buy and/or trade.
Post Reply
User avatar
CanuckCoinGirl
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2022 6:41 pm

How do you use the Charlton paper money guide?

Post by CanuckCoinGirl » Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:35 am

If someone is selling anything, they are free to ask whatever price they feel the item is worth, including coins and bills. I have seen people use the Charlton banknote guide and the grading on the bill to assess a price, and I sometimes would do it differently - or value it differently if I was considering buying (I buy and don't sell...yet). The Charlton guides had been on my dad's bookshelves when I was growing up, and maybe we were always just more conservative than others. Again this is not about the price anyone specifically has asked or will ask - good on them if they can get everything they want. The question I have is a question on interpretation of the Charlton pricing in the banknote guide, and how others use the guide. Although you could apply the rationale you use with the coin guide too, given spacing between numbers, eg. MS 62 vs MS 64 for an MS 63 coin.

In the Charlton paper money guide, it lists prices for circulated, then seems to lump UNC, ChUNC, & GEMUNC.
My understanding was that in the banknote guide, which does not contain grade numbering like that used in the coin guide, UNC would be an average (or even top) value for anything UNC, so 60-62 (62). In the same manner, ChUNC would be an average for 63-64 (64), and GemUNC would be the average price for anything 65-70, but since it is usually 65-68 top could be 67 or 68ish. There is no category of something like SuperbGem in guides, although grades do come in with that and anything at a 70 seems to be owner valued (the ones on ebay seem to be priced about 100X price of a GUNC 67 on CaC for example). When you as a buyer or seller, which may have you looking at it differently, look at the banknote guide and see a value for UNC, CUNC, or GUNC, what grading do you assume is associated with that label? or is it an average? pipe-dream best value?

Thinking this theme might be good for people that just get referred to the guides too. And also why I put it in this category in the discussion themes.

HANDI1
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:29 pm

Re: How do you use the Charlton paper money guide?

Post by HANDI1 » Mon Jun 27, 2022 8:21 pm

My way of using the grading system applies to both banknotes and coins. Split the difference on the 62/64 grades. You cannot value anything graded over MS65 the same as because they are not.

Unc MS60 $100
Unc MS62 $150
ChUnc MS63 $200
Ch Unc MS64 $250
Gem Unc MS65 $300

beachcow
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2020 10:22 am

Re: How do you use the Charlton paper money guide?

Post by beachcow » Tue Jun 28, 2022 2:48 pm

I use the Charlton guide, and the grading definitions supplied within, and compare it to the physical condition of the banknote. I think it's important to be able to assess/grade notes yourself. I do not relate Charlton grades to third party grades such as PMG because they are a completely different scale. I only trust BCS grades as they relate to Charlton grading.

Nota_phil
Posts: 150
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2022 10:04 am
Contact:

Re: How do you use the Charlton paper money guide?

Post by Nota_phil » Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:13 am

I used the Charlton catalogue strictly as a guide. When I started collecting there was no Charlton so when I saw one at our library I thought it was the best book & treated it like my "bible". However, as time went on, & I started to see/understand the trends that were being realized out on the bourses, at shows, & coins shops, i knew that some figures were quite low while other figures were too high. I also remember when there was only one Uncirculated & a bunch of us chatting with some of the pricing panel why it needed to be revised:

The grading increments are meant to be ballpark figures but generally speaking I would consider a VF to be VF30; EF to be EF40; AU to be AU50 & UNC60, Choice is UNC64 & superb Gem is UNC66 The figures quoted are also intended for "original" notes (or PMG notes with EPQ). Notes without these qualifications usually sell for slightly less than BV (unless very scarce).

If you have a note which falls in between these increments, its as @HANDI1 put it, find the figure in between.

When I got a new copy for myself around 2000, I found that there were some signature change-overs missing & started to make suggestions around 2003 when the Canadian Paper Money Forum (CPMF) started up.
https://cdnpapermoney.com/index.php?PHP ... board=21.0

One thing I noticed was that the 1937 Osborne-Towers notes were much tougher & more expensive than the catalogue suggested. Many collectors commented to this affect & some of the pricing panel must have accepted this feedback as we started to see the BV on these tough notes increase. However, we also suggested that the Insert replacement BV's were a bit high & we saw no change with those. The prices did plateau (not increase) after a while. I have always found the special serial # for the 1954 series (& prior) to lag reality too. Also, the majority of collectors will favour conservative grading as seen by BCS over PMG.
There is no category of something like SuperbGem in guides, although grades do come in with that and anything at a 70 seems to be owner valued (the ones on ebay seem to be priced about 100X price of a GUNC 67 on CaC for example).
- I really cannot comment on the "grade rarity collectors" b/c I have found this phenomenon completely speculative & beyond comprehension.
Join the journey: check out Notaphilyc Culture:
https://sites.google.com/view/notaphily ... -banknotes

Post Reply