The Fascinating Way To Identify High Grade Dollar Bills

In today's high-tech world, the elegantly old-school nature of the method chosen to inspect dollar bills for quality — the magnifying glass — might be surprising. The magnifying glass began its use as an inspecting tool way back around 1250 when philosopher Roger Bacon wanted to amplify and examine small objects. It remained fairly obscure, largely being the tool of scientists, until Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, popularized it in the public's imagination in the 1800s across numerous fictional cases, including many involving the inspection of coins and dollar bills. Today, magnification remains a key way that banks bust criminals for shady financial practices, like passing counterfeit money, because authentic currency's exceptionally fine micro-printing will still be sharp and readable under a magnifying glass. And for collectors, it's the primary tool for assessing the resale value of their prized paper. To determine the grade of their rare currency, numismatists evaluate it with the naked eye and under 5x magnification to pick up minor imperfections.

Use of the magnifying glass is only one part of the high-grade bill identification process. What's also needed? An agreed-upon ranking system. That didn't begin to develop until 1949, when Dr. William Herbert Sheldon invented the Sheldon Coin Grading Scale. This system used a 70-point rating of large coins based upon their condition, with a higher number indicating better quality. Experts then adapted the use of his scale to address a broader range of coin types. Today's leading authorized paper money grading company, PMG, later derived its 70-point assessment from the Sheldon scale to identify high-grade dollar bills.

Anyone wanting to have their dollar bills professionally graded can submit them to PMG and other third-party money grading services. To receive PMG's Exceptional Paper Quality (EPQ) rating, a bill needs to score 65 through 70 on their Sheldon-modified scale. To receive the best rating of 70, an expert examines the bill under 5x magnification to ensure no signs of handling at that amplification. Signs of handling include crinkles, minor bends, and evidence of tellers counting the bill. Besides checking for a pristine nature under magnification, the expert also looks at the bill with their naked eye to see if margins appear centered and the images and printing on the back seem aligned. Finally, the bill must meet PMG Star Designation standards, referring to "exceptional eye appeal." Admittedly the most subjective analysis, the expert must determine that the bill's ink color is vibrant with outstanding paper quality and an extraordinarily high quality of plate embossing. If paper money (cash that isn't really made of paper) meets all qualifications, it's eligible for the top rating. 

Should the margins and registration look a bit off center in an unmagnified examination, the PMG rating goes down to 69. If, in addition to this off-centeredness, there appears to be very minor handling, then the rating drops to 68, continuing to go down in increments when other signs of imperfection appear. Because the average lifespan of U.S. paper money is fairly short, it may be surprising that the first bill that PMG rated a 70 (happening in 2009), was printed way back in 1935.