Valuation literature - is there a silver bullet?

Dear all,

we have received quite a large collection of bank notes, and as beginners, we are struggling with the myriad of issues that lead to accurate identification of Series, dates and valuations etc.

We have read mention of a ‘Catalogue’, is there a Bank note catalogue that aids identification and valuation of bank notes? Does it require an element of experience? Does it only apply to UK, Islands bank notes? For example, with 10/- notes, reference is made to a ‘C Series’ or another Series, what does this actually mean? 

Thanks very much for your assistance, and realise this must seem very dumb to many, but they you go, that's where we are starting from, and we are a little group of wide ranging ages so, age is no protector from embarrassment!   

Series is fairly easy: it is often written on the note, see here:

500 Sucres - Ecuador – Numista

Otherwise it could be the prefix of the serial number.

We have a catalogue here on Numista, it is very useful. You can also search for your note by taking a photo of it and using that photo in an image search.

Valuation depends on a lot of stuff, including the grade of the note. Someone else can elaborate on that side of things.