Grading of World Paper Money

Grading a banknote is just as difficult as for grading a coin. Here are several considerations to be taken, and it is very important that you know most of these before making you grading. It is not enough just to say "the note looks nice an have never been in use".

	UNC	AU	EF	VF	F	VG	G	Fair	Poor
	Uncirculated	About Uncirculated	Extremely Fine	Very Fine	Fine	Very Good	Good	Fair	Poor
Edges	no counting marks	light counting folds OR...	light counting folds	corners are not fully rounded	much handling on edges	rounded edges
Folds	no folds	...OR one light fold through center	max. three light folds or one strong crease	several horizontal and vertical folds	many folds and creases
Paper color	paper is clean with bright colors			paper may have minimal dirt or some color smudging, but still crisp	paper is not excessively dirty, but may have some softness	paper may be dirty, discolored or stained	very dirty, discolored and with some writing	very dirty, discolorated, with writing and some obscured portions	very dirty, discolored, with writing and obscured portions
Tears	no tears			no tears into the border	minor tears in the border, but out of design	tears into the design
Holes	no holes				no center hole, but staple hole usual	center hole and staple hole
Integrity	no pieces missing						no large pieces missing	piece missing	piece missing or tape holding pieces together

Standard International Grading Terminology & Abbreviations

Country / Grade	Uncirculated	Extremely Fine	Very Fine	Fine	Very Good	Good	Poor
USA & English	UNC	EF or XF	VF	F	VG	G	PR
Brazil	(1) FE	(3) S	(5) MBC	(7) BC	(8)	(9) R	UTGeG
China	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Czechia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Denmark	0	01	1+	1	1-	2	3
Finland	0	01	1+	1	1-	2	3
France	NEUF	SUP	TTB	TB	B	TBC	BC
Germany	I (BFR)	II (VZGL)	III (SS)	IV (S)	V (SG)	VI (G)	VII (GS)
Italy	FdS	SPL	BB	MB	B	M	-
Japan	Mishiyo	Goku Bihin	Bihin	Futsuhin	n/a	n/a	n/a
Lithuania	(0) NP	(1) YP	(2) LP	(3) P	(4) LG	(5) G	(6) M
Netherlands	FDC / UNC	PR	ZF	F	ZG	G	-
Norway	0	01	1+	1	1-	2	3
Poland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Portugal	Novo	Soberbo	Muito Bo	-	-	-	-
Romania	NC	-	FF	F	FBC	BC	M
Russia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Spain - España	Lujo	SC, IC or EBC	MBC	BC	-	RC	MC
Sweden	0	01	1+	1	1-	2	-