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Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, passports, stock certificates, postage stamps and identity cards. The main goal of security printing is to prevent forgery or counterfeiting. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ...
For other articles which might have the same name, see Print (disambiguation). ...
A £20 Bank of England banknote. ...
For other types of travel document, see Travel document. ...
In corporate law, a stock certificate (also known as certificate of stock) is a legal document that certifies legal ownership of a specific number of stock shares in a corporation. ...
A selection of Hong Kong postage stamps A postage stamp is evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services. ...
German identity document sample An identity document is a piece of documentation designed to prove the identity of the person carrying it. ...
Forgery is the process of making or adapting objects or documents (see false document), with the intention to deceive. ...
For other uses, see Counterfeit (disambiguation). ...
A number of technical methods are used in the security printing industry.
Special paper
Most banknotes are made of heavy paper, almost always from cotton fibres for strength and durability, in some cases linen or speciality coloured or forensic fibres are added to give the paper added individuality and protect against counterfeiting. Some countries including Romania, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia produce banknotes made from polymer, in order to improve wear and tear, and permit the inclusion of a small transparent window a few millimeters in size as a security feature that is very difficult to reproduce using common counterfeiting techniques. A blank sheet of paper Paper is a commodity of thin material produced by the amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. ...
The first Guardian polymer banknote in circulation. ...
Watermarks A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears lighter or darker than surrounding paper when viewed with a light from behind the paper, due to paper density variations. A watermark is made by impressing a water coated metal stamp or dandy roll onto the paper during manufacturing. Watermarks were first introduced in Bologna, Italy in 1282; as well as their use in security printing, they have also been used by papermakers to identify their product. This Crown & CA (for Crown Agent) watermark was standard for postage stamps of the British colonies from the 1880s to the 1920s. ...
Intaglio printing Intaglio is a printing technique in which the image is incised into a surface. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used, and the incisions are created by etching or engraving the image, but one may also use mezzotint. In printing, the surface is covered in ink, and then rubbed vigorously with tarlatan cloth or newspaper to remove the ink from the surface, leaving it in the incisions. A damp piece of paper is placed on top, and the plate and paper are run through a printing press that, through pressure, transfers the ink to the paper. Intaglio (pronounced in-TAL-yo, IPA: ) is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate. ...
The very sharp printing obtained from the intaglio process is hard to imitate by other means.
Geometric lathe work A guilloché is an ornamental pattern formed of two or more curved bands that interlace to repeat a circular design. They are made with a geometric lathe. Guilloche interlace on the frame of a doorway, S. Salvatore in Lauro, Rome The guilloche interlace pattern (illustrated, right), a conventional enriched moulding in classical architecture, may enclose empty space or be rosetted as it is here; the result is a moulding that could be said to be guilloché. Bands...
A geometric lathe was used for making ornamental patterns on the plates used in printing bank notes and postage stamps. ...
Microprinting This involves the use of extremely small text, and is most often used on currency and bank checks. The text is generally small enough to be undiscernable to the naked eye. Cheques, for example, use microprint as the signature line. Microprinting is one of many anti-counterfeiting techniques used most often on currency and bank checks, as well as various other items of value. ...
Color-changing inks Color changing inks is a chemical that changes color once viewed at a different angle. The color of the ink does not actually change, but the angle of the light to the viewer's eye changes and thus creates the change in color. Currently there are only two types, green to purple and gold to green.
Holograms A hologram may be embedded either via holographic paper, or onto the laminate of a card itself. This article is about the photographic technique. ...
Security threads There are two kinds of security threads. One is a thin aluminum coated and partly demetalized Polyester film thread with Micro printing which is embedded in the security paper as banknote or passport paper.
The other kind of security thread is the single or multicolor sewing thread made from cotton or synthetic fibers, mostly UV fluorescent, for the bookbinding of passport booklets.
Magnetic ink Because of the difficulties in forging magnetic ink characters, and the speed with which they can be read by computer systems, magnetic ink character recognition is used extensively in banking, primarily for personal checks. The ink used in Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) technology is also used to greatly reduce errors in automated (or computerized) reading. Bold textBold textBold textBold textMagnetic Ink Character Recognition, or MICR, colloquially pronounced or sometimes , is a character recognition technology adopted mainly by the banking industry to facilitate the processing of checks. ...
Serial numbers Serial numbers are not difficult to forge, but make legitimate documents easier to track and audit. A serial number is a unique number that is one of a series assigned for identification which varies from its successor or predecessor by a fixed discrete integer value. ...
Anti-copying marks In the late twentieth century advances in computer and photocopy technology made it possible for people without sophisticated training to easily copy currency. In an attempt to prevent this, banks have sought to add filtering features to the software and hardware available to the public that senses features of currency, and then locks out the reproduction of any material with these marks. One known example of such a system is the EURion constellation. The small circles or dots constituting the EURion constellation are clearly visible on the centre-left of 10 euro banknotes. ...
Copy-evident paper Many secure documents have the feature which causes a photocopy of the document to appear obviously different from the original. For example, when photocopied, most cheques will display the word "VOID" (or the equivalent in another language) on the copy, even though it is absent from the original. A cheque (British English) or check (American English), thought to have developed from Persian چك chek, is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specific demand account held in the maker/depositors name with that institution. ...
Fluorescent dyes Many banknotes incorporate dyes which fluoresce under ultraviolet light. These show up as words, patterns or pictures under UV. This feature is also incorporated into other documents - eg Northern Ireland NHS prescriptions show a picture of local '8th wonder' the Giant's Causeway in UV light.
Registration of features on both sides Banknotes are typically printed with fine alignment between the printing on each side of the note. This allows the note to be examined for this feature, and provides opportunities to unambiguously align other features of the note to the printing. Again, this is difficult to imitate accurately enough in most print shops.
Electronic devices With the advent of RFID, it is possible to insert extremely small RF-active devices into the printed product. A documented example is the "Breeze" [1] electronic card system used to control fare collection for MARTA in Atlanta. An EPC RFID tag used for Wal-Mart Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. ...
MARTA rail car at North Avenue station The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, more commonly called MARTA, is the largest public rapid-transit system (in both size and ridership) in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and the ninth largest in the United States. ...
This article is about the state capital of Georgia. ...
External links - International Security Products
- Free security printing resource
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