Help With My Grading Skills

You might be being a little stringent on the lower grades. I'm no expert myself. I refer to PMG's guidelines a lot when I grade my notes. You can check out https://www.pmgnotes.com/paper-mone...ading-scale/ for more info. Hope this helps.

I'm going to take a stab at this one since it's a great question.

First, I agree with "Owatchman" in that you may be a bit harsh on the lower grades though, in general this is a good tendency. My own experience with PMG informs me that they're often quite liberal (across grades) so I would try to lean more towards a conservative bias. Each collector has his/her own tendency but in general it seems (to me) to best err on the side of strictness for no surprises with other (more experienced eyes) assessing your notes.
So for:
#1: I think "Good" is a bit harsh on this one as that's the bottom-of-the-barrel, so I'd say more a "VG." The examples I've seen for "G" usually look more faded & a bit more ratty. Charlton's take "Very dirty, no firmness, very ratty on edges and corners. Lots of design worn off along the major creases." The soiling seems to be only on the left portion. You are in possession of the note so you may see more defects than I.
#2 The example looks like a mid "Fine15" to me. Charlton's VG has "Considerable amount of wear along the major creases and edges. Lots of fraying paper fibres. The note displays much more dirt."
#3 I agree with this "Fine" and would say Fine18 but PMG might put this as a VF20. Charlton describes "F" as "some design loss and fraying of the paper fibres along the major creases. Creases are getting worse with some dirt engrained. A fair amount of crispness remains to the paper, particularly in-between the major creases."
#4 Probably VF as you stated. Again, you've got the note so you're a better judge of the firmness (or lack there of). Remember that VF has a fairly large range from VF20 to VF39 (technically- though you will only see VF35 on holders).

Your other estimates look fairly accurate.

#6 Be sure to check where the paper clip indented the paper since they can easily leave minor traces of rust. Rust will eliminate your EPQ or Original designation.

#7 The higher grades get a bit more challenging and usually require a light box to view any flaws.

You're most welcome. It's an excellent topic that we should all review, or go over a few times (& then a few more times). I remember as a kid getting so annoyed once when I heard a collector suggest that kind of repetition to me for grading (but he was right).

I believe that many collectors/banknote dealers struggle at being objective when they assess a banknote's condition. I've seen many collectors post images of TPG notes that were significantly over graded so even the "pros" who grade regularly can get it wrong. It's one of the reasons you'll often here 'old-timers' recommend, "judge the note- not the holder." But I have messed up countless times myself (especially with trusting high grade claims by online auctions). I've been "burned" often from auctioneers claims of raw notes being "Choice UNC" & getting much lower certifications of AU50- AU58 from BCS later. It's just one reason I've become partial to TPG banknotes. I always feel skeptical towards anyone who boasts that grading is easy (or even that an older rare banknote is "GEM." I just have to inspect the note for my own curiosity ).

Please take a peak at the grading video (one of the links below) & my website when you get a chance. Thanks!
https://sites.google.com/view/notap...ng-banknotes