New Currency Collector Advice

erwindoc

I'm a coin collector looking to branch out a bit into currency. At this point, I just plan on searching the local banks for $1, $2, $5 and perhaps higher denominations. I plan to pick up my first bundle of $1 tomorrow at the bank(even got the all important approval from the boss!) I have a good relationship with tellers(they know me as a roll searcher) and I also plan to ask about "old paper money" that they may have stored up. I have a few questions for the more experienced collectors.

First, can you suggest some storage methods? Specifically what to use and how or more importantly, what NOT to use or do.
Second, coin cleaning is a no-no. Id assume the same would be true for currency. Right or wrong?
Third, is saving crisp bills worth it, if they are not that old? Some you-tube videos Ive seen have suggested saving crisp bills from the 80s and 90s.

Any other big suggestions you pros would have for a newbie? Look forward to reading!

element159

Use Mylar holders to store notes. Tom Denly sells such, and others do as well. (I think that someone on the forum sells these.) You are correct that cleaning is a no-no, at the least it is for experts only (probably like with coins.)

I find that few notes in circulation are financially worth saving, even crisp. I have a few collections that I am building out of circulated notes, but they are just for fun not profit. If you want to save older notes because you like them, go ahead. E.g. I am kind of building a set of each date in $1 notes from circulation, for this it would be nice to find a 1980's date in nice condition. But I would expect such a note to be worth face in practice.

erwindoc

I looked though $200 and found 2 star notes(2001 and 2013). It was lots of fun. A couple of interesting serial numbers, partial ladder of 4 numbers and a PI note, stopping a 3.14. I also found a pair of consecutive notes. I guess Ill return those and get $200 more to dig through!

boimre1972

I've noted, in the last couple months, a few folks on this board are selling their entire collection. If you ID what you want, maybe you could jumpstart your collection. I'm not selling my entire collection, but I've got some modern stuff for sale, graded. Cheap.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/967892/5-star-notes-for-sale

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/968510/fs-10-notes-all-graded

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/968234/for-sale-an-assortment-of-modern-20s

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/968118/graded-frn-star-100-notes-for-sale