CANADA 150 COMMEMORATIVE NOTE DETAILS

Martine Warren, bank note design specialist of the currency department, spoke of the many anti-counterfeiting elements that are making this note, “even more secure than the notes of the current Frontiers series.”

They are particularly proud of the colour-shifting arch in the upper left corner of the face of the note. There is a checkered pattern in the arch that moves up and down, as you tilt the note, and changes colour from green to blue. “It is not a hologram,” says Warren, “it is a printed element that was realized thanks to the property of the ink.” The pigments of the ink can be controlled using a magnet. A magnet was used during the printing and the drying of the note, to ensure the pigments remained properly aligned.

Demonstrating magnetic "magic" green ink

The notes were printed using the intaglio technique to ensure that there would be raised elements of the design, which are another one of the anti-counterfeiting elements. “We’ve always used raised ink on the front of the note, but we also used it on the back this time,” said Warren.

The last new anti-counterfeiting element is the three maple leaves at the bottom of the window. “They appear to be three-dimensional [in relief], but when you touch them you confirm that the surface of the note is actually flat,” concluded Warren.

Boyd Laanstra, senior analyst, visual content, also of the currency department, stood at another table. “The note was designed by all Canadians as we took all the comments received during the design process,” said Laanstra. He was the orchestra conductor of the design, “My job was to translate all comments received, convert them into visual components, and bring all of them together before giving this to the designers,” concluded Laanstra.

To read the complete article, see:
Canada 150 note offers new technology (http://canadiancoinnews.com/canada-150-note-offers-new-technology/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
CANADA COMMEMORATIVE $10 NOTE UNVEILED (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n15a35.html)

Central banks are better known for managing inflation by controlling the money supply than for their sense of humor. That's apparently not the case with the Bank of Canada, though, which used a 1980s video game easter egg to help unveil a new banknote this week.

The bank created a website to show off the new 10 Canadian dollar note, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the act of consolidation that created the modern version of America's northern neighbor. As CTV News pointed out, there's a hidden easter egg that visitors to the site can activate to start playing the Canadian national anthem and see confetti fall.

The activation code is a series of ten keystrokes identical to a cheat present in many video games from the Japanese studio Konami. When a player spotted the Konami logo on a game's loading screen, entering the code would unlock a set of bonuses for a number of the company's earlier titles, including Contra for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. "The Bank of Canada's web team thought the Konami code was a fun way to celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation," a spokeswoman told CTV. To try it out for yourself, visit the commemorative website and enter the following keystrokes: ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right on the cursor keys), then "B" and "A."

To read the complete article, see:
Konami Code Helps Debut New Canadian Banknote (www.pcmag.com/news/353012/konami-code-helps-debut-new-canadian-banknote)

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