An Historical Look at Paper Money Grading

Editor’s Note: For nearly 70 years, the feature-rich pages of Coins magazine, Bank Note Reporter’s venerable sister publication, have tracked the history, fun and the growth of this great hobby, while also attracting new collectors to pursue what was once deemed the “hobby of kings.” Dusting off these time-aged issues, from the early 1960s and beyond, each installment of “Past Times with Coins,” written by its former longtime editor, explores what nuggets of interest they contain.

When it comes to U.S. paper money, Texas banker and collector extraordinaire W.A. Philpott Jr. (1865-1971) was a giant.

For the May 1963 issue of Coins magazine, he penned a lengthy article on grading paper money, titled “Classifying Condition of Currency: It Is Either Uncirculated or It Is Not.”

In explanation of its presentation, Coins’ editor wrote:

“Since paper currency is