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The E-Sylum: Volume 7, Number 41, October 10, 2004, Article 16
NEW PAPER MONEY ? SCANNED, PHOTOCOPIED AND REPRODUCED IN NUMISMATIC LITERATURE
Dick Johnson writes: "I haven't done it yet, but if you try to
photocopy a new U.S. twenty or fifty dollar bill on a new
photocopy machine, up pops a message that you should visit
an anticounterfeiting website: anticounterfeiting websitex
Scary that the photocopy machine knows what you are
copying? Well, they tell me it is a new technology that is
built into the machine triggered by images built into the new
paper money.
The machine technology was developed by Digimarc, which
calls itself a "global leader in digital watermarking."
Headquartered in Tualatin, Oregon, the bulk of Digimarc's
business is making drivers' licenses more secure.
Our Bureau of Engraving and Printing worked with a group
formed by the national banks of U.S. and ten other countries.
Formed in 1993 and originally called SSG-2 the group is now
called the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group. It was
CBCDG which commissioned Digimarc to create the technology.
In 2003 the United States Treasury gave $2.9 million for this
project. Everyone, however, is pretty closemouthed about all
the technology involved, as perhaps they should be.
Copy machines made by Kodak, Ulead and Hewlett-Packard
now have the new copy machine technology. It is not mandatory
yet for all makers of printers, scanners and copiers to include
this capability, but it is being pushed by the big eleven national
banks (from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and of course
the U.S.).
Makers of graphic manipulation software, notably Adobe
PhotoShop and Jase Printshop Pro, have also embedding the
technology. I'm told the image just doesn't come up if you try
to copy new currency of these nations with this software.
My question is how this will affect the publication of numismatic
paper money literature? The U.S. law requires all reproductions
of legal currency be either smaller (less than 3/4 the size of the
original) or larger (more than 1 ½ times the original size) but it
cannot be double sided. Formerly it was restricted to black-and-
white only, but reproduction in color is now allowed.
The law originally had the caveat these restrictions could be
waived for "numismatic or educational purposes." Forty-five
years ago when I was editor of Coin World I subscribed to
INTERPOL for their publication of all new currency as it was
placed in current use. Illustrations of this currency was
airmailed to subscribers (fastest dissemination at the time).
This was to inform banks, and currency exchanges to keep
up-to-date with new legal paper tender around the world.
This was the only example I knew of educating the public
about paper money (other than obvious notices in news
publications).
If numismatists cannot scan images of paper money in the
future with this anticounterfeiting technology prohibiting
coping, how will the numismatic field be able to publish
paper money books and articles? Must we save one of
our old copiers for this purpose?
Here is an early British story on the subject: British Story
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.
To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com
To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum
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