Conservation
PMG / PCGS
PMG / PCGS
PMG (Paper Money Guaranty) and PCGS Banknote are the two most used paper-money grading services. They slab the note and assign a grade from 1 to 70, aligned with the Sheldon scale, plus originality comments — EPQ at PMG, or hole-punch and mounting notes at PCGS. They are not NGC, which works mainly coin, though Notofilia’s search groups all three. The certificate identifies the piece: 8083882-032 is the Victory 20-peso note; 59068295 is the 1983 2,000 pesos oro specimen. The same number does not generate a second record.
The Philippine 20-peso P#98a is slabbed PMG 55 EPQ (About Uncirculated, Exceptional Paper Quality), serial F04661756, plate B, printer USBEP. The 1881 Banco Hipotecario proofs are in PMG 61 Uncirculated, serial Y 00000. The 24 July 1983 Pick 430as specimen is in PCGS 64 Very Choice New, with “Hole Punch Cancelled” and mounting remnants on the back, SPECIMEN Nº 030. Many other records — 1994 Emberá, RM5, 1945 1 peso oro — are shown in sleeves, without a holder; a grade is not invented for them.
Neither PMG nor PCGS appraises. A 55 EPQ is not a price. A population census that has not been independently verified is not published. The slab documents condition and identity; it does not “improve” the paper. This collection cites the service and the certificate when they exist, and makes clear when the example has not been sent. The term links encapsulation, EPQ, the Sheldon scale, and NGC, so the three houses are not treated as one.
Examples in the collection
See also: Sheldon Scale , EPQ (Exceptional Paper Quality) , Uncirculated (UNC) , NGC , Slab / encapsulation