Posted 05/12/2021 4:30 pm
Most covert banknote security features are not publicized to keep counterfeiters at bay. Security features fall into these classifications:
• Level 1 - Easily discerned by public users of the currency. The thought being to catch fakes as they are spent.
• Level 2a - Detectable by tellers and many large venue events. An example would be UV inks. Collectors check such things, but hardly anyone carries a UV light to check bank notes "in the field". The thought being to catch notes when the fake is first run through a bank. Attempting to pass the counterfeit using machines such as a vending machine is also thwarted.
• Level 2b - Detectable by counterfeit detecting machines and counting machines. These often have magnetic features, say on the security thread.
• Level 3 - Detectable only by the central bank / monetary authority and security printer.
MagText is a DeLaRue trade marked covert feature. I is invisible encrypted features identified by magnetic detectors to recover the signal from the security thread. The recovered signal is decrypted using algorithms to allow the tiny signal to be recognized with low signal-to-noise ratios.
Neomag is a SICPA trade marked covert feature. It is machine readable intaglio ink system by special magnetic pigments which pass infrared rays and retain their color. Here's a test viewed with regular light & IR light.
There are 200+ patented security features annotated, most with demonstration images in the book I just published, "Security Features of Modern Banknotes
• Level 1 - Easily discerned by public users of the currency. The thought being to catch fakes as they are spent.
• Level 2a - Detectable by tellers and many large venue events. An example would be UV inks. Collectors check such things, but hardly anyone carries a UV light to check bank notes "in the field". The thought being to catch notes when the fake is first run through a bank. Attempting to pass the counterfeit using machines such as a vending machine is also thwarted.
• Level 2b - Detectable by counterfeit detecting machines and counting machines. These often have magnetic features, say on the security thread.
• Level 3 - Detectable only by the central bank / monetary authority and security printer.
MagText is a DeLaRue trade marked covert feature. I is invisible encrypted features identified by magnetic detectors to recover the signal from the security thread. The recovered signal is decrypted using algorithms to allow the tiny signal to be recognized with low signal-to-noise ratios.
Neomag is a SICPA trade marked covert feature. It is machine readable intaglio ink system by special magnetic pigments which pass infrared rays and retain their color. Here's a test viewed with regular light & IR light.
There are 200+ patented security features annotated, most with demonstration images in the book I just published, "Security Features of Modern Banknotes
& just 1 of the many reasons I enjoy collecting currency. Even the older series's security features are fun to explore. In fact, I have seen some bogus notes printed for the 2004 upgraded Journey $20 (& other denominations). One thing that I found was surprising is that the fake's serial number font was off/all wrong. Prefixes were incorrect & often a couple fakes will have the same # (I guess just copies meant to fool a few people at a time). You would think after they went to all the trouble of duplicating most of the design elements, they'd try a bit harder to get the SN right (a rather old simplistic security feature).
