Polymer $20 Bill - Missing Ink?

I personally think something doesn't look right here.... it almost looks like a wash out...

I am pretty sure that for the journey series (and earlier) the denomination and signatures were two different prints...

I would imagine it would be the same for the poly's as well.. if that's the case the fact that the denomination AND sig's are faded I would say this isn't legit...

I haven't done much reading up on the poly printing process so I think it may be best for someone else to chime in here... but I will say I am a bit skeptic

Could you feel if the bill feels thinner or eroded away on that side?
I had someone show me a Journey bill that had no 20, the paper feels thinner almost like someone's ripped the top half off.

Just wondering, the denomination and signature intaglio print, can acetone take off the intaglio print? I know it doesn't do anything to the smooth surfaces of the bill, I dipped the right side of a fiver in acetone for two hours and nothing happened. If no one wants to risk their bill, I can do it for you guys, but not until Monday.

I just did a little test, apparently you CAN scratch off the intaglio print off the bill with your fingernail. I didn't get it as gone as yours yet, I'll continue and tell you how it goes.

Edit: Nope, can't get the intaglio to be that gone without tearing the bill.

In the polymer bills the signature is part of intaglio.

There was a note with similar intaglio print missing even a bit of the portrait intaglio missing and it was third party graded which sold on e-bay. I cannot seem to find the listing now.

I have a picture from the e-bay but I am not sure about the rules of posting it here.

The third party grading details are as follows:

Canadian Coin Certification Service
2011 - 100 Dollars Canada
Serial Number: EKJ4997047
Incomplete Printing Less than 25%
11000066 0039305

It's taking an awful long time to dissolve my fiver with acetone, but the intaglio is definitely starting to thin. It's not thin enough to show a difference with my camera yet, but I can feel it when I rub it.

The serial numbers are still intact, which is good, so that I could exchange it for a new bill. I read that banks won't take it if both serials aren't there.

Yep, the bill still feels as "new" as when I got it, which isn't very new considering it had been folded several times.



Edit: Yes, Acetone can remove the intaglio very easily.

Because it was taking too long and I didn't have the patience to wait it out, I decided to speed up the process by taking a toothbrush and dipped it in acetone then rub it on the right side of the jacket. I rubbed a little too hard, and now I can see through the bill But toward the middle of his jacket I did with my finger (fingertip, no nails, just skin) and it took off the intaglio very fast. Just dip your finger in acetone, rub the bill while it's wet, and dip your finger again as needed.

The 5 was completely done with my finger. It's pretty uneven because the lighting of where I was doing it is pretty bad. It wasn't until I looked at it in the light that I realised it looks so uneven. The bill now is just fresh out of acetone and it feels a bit sticky like when you put plastic in acetone, I'm sure it will be gone in a while like the first time I took it out.





Serials are intact but one turned green. But you can't see what I did to the front from the back! Except for the missing hologram that is.



By the way, the stickyness is gone as I'm typing this.

I hope I can exchange this for a new bill from the bank. Anyone knows if they'll take it? I'll just need to get the intaglio blue off my fingers first so I can make an excuse for this.

Acetone took off the plastic with the metallic pictures, including the small numbers on it. Also a lot of the thickness of the intaglio on the spots which I didn't rub (the ones I rubbed don't feel any thickness at all, in fact I rubbed off too much of the suit off so it actually feels thinner there). But the rest of the security features are still there. These polys are tough! I'm going to ask the bank to switch this for a new fiver.

About jane120's bill, I don't think it's possible to tell its authenticity without an expert examining it in hand. I've successfully altered a note with a common solvent, creating some sort of badly messed up "missing ink" banknote.

Hi Paisa, I agree that missing/removed featured are hard to authenticate, so I think an expert opinion when the note is in hand is needed to authenticate it.

I enjoy doing various experiments though. I used an old toothbrush to scrub on his suit and I think that is why it removed the underlying litho too. The litho under the "5", which I entirely used my finger to remove, was still intact. My lighting was bad where I did that, so I didn't see the results until I bring it to a better lighted area (I used the toothbrush first, looked at it, then went back and did it with my finger). If I bring it to the better lighted area, I will stink up my study space. Unfortunately I don't have the note anymore.

Not an error at all!
I did this in under 10 seconds with acetone.
A little care and I could easily replicate the "errors" shown in this thread.