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 Replies: 8 / Views: 2,234 |
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Moderator
 United States
188213 Posts |
While this link is non-numismatic in nature, I found this part interesting... Quote:
I hold in my hand a device that many of you will have run into when you tried to spend a $50 or $100-bill. It's called "The Counterfeit Detector Pen." The makers claim that a phony bill stroked by this pen will register a black line, while a genuine bill will show an amber-colored line. And it bears U.S. Patent Number 5,063,163. The patent examiner who approved this patent read that counterfeiters would use cheap recycled paper, which has starch content, and since this is an iodine pen, the cheap paper would turn black, as starch does when in contact with iodine. Do you really think that a counterfeiter would use cheap paper to print on, folks? Of course not. But this pen has made a lot of folks very happy. First, we have those who sell the pen, by the hundreds of thousands in major office supply houses. Second, even happier, are the counterfeiters themselves, whose product will never show up this way, and will go right back into circulation. And who pays for this? We do. We allow, by this means, some hundreds of millions of dollars in bogus bills to circulate freely, since countless restaurants, stores, and other businesses in this country depend upon this deviceā"this quite useless penā"to decide whether they should accept a currency bill. This is costing money!
I'm all for simple experimentation. Here I have a $50 bill. I suspect this bill might be counterfeit. Sir, please take the Counterfeit Detector Pen and in accordance with the instructions, stroke a line upon an open portion of the face of the bill. What is the result? That means the bill is genuine, according to the patent papers, which states, "a light golden-brown colored test area will indicate the presence of genuine paper currency." Please turn the bill over and tell us what you see there. The bill is a photocopy made on newsprint. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
648 Posts |
Truly an informative find Thank You!
A person might as well try and pick up a dollar bill with a magnet Ha ..............
oh wait you can do that
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
Having worked in retail before, I concure that they are basically a scam. I think they operate more on the principal that people will see them testing the bills and not attempt to pass off a fake at the store.
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Valued Member
United States
369 Posts |
Just like it says, it can only tell if it is cheap paper. I've worked retail, and we had a counterfeit $10 come through once. It was on some heavier, more currency-like paper, and the pen showed up as genuine. Still, it was badly printed and missing the watermarks, obviously counterfeit.
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Valued Member
United Kingdom
477 Posts |
Yeah I've had experience with telling counterfeits, here in the UK we use UV light for hidden watermarks, obvious tell signs that the note is different, normal watermark check and the silver dash line on our notes cannot be ripped through horizontally-if you try you will rip a genuine note horizontally apart lol.
But we never used a pen, the quotation reminds me of the bomb detectors sold to Iraq & other countries and they didn't detect explosives, just filled someones pocket and gave consumers a false sense of security. The guys in jail I think now.
Edited by awallin01
03/19/2014 1:29 pm
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Valued Member
United States
105 Posts |
I've actually had someone use one at work when I was trading for an old series 100 dollar bill.
I couldn't help myself from telling them why the pens aren't always reliable and different ways to see if a bill is real or not.
Personally, I usually check the color shifting ink, texture of the bill, watermarks, and security strips. (If present of course.)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3453 Posts |
Quote:
Are counterfeit detector pens a sham? No, they are real...they just do not work.  I hope everyone reads the whole article - he ties everything together beautifully.  |
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Valued Member
United States
432 Posts |
Great article and thanks for sharing!
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Moderator
 United States
188213 Posts |
Quote:
I hope everyone reads the whole article - he ties everything together beautifully. You know that was my intent all along.  |
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Replies: 8 / Views: 2,234 |
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Posted 03/19/2014 10:55 am
