Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-04-13
Bank OF England Notes.

In picturesque Hampshire nook in
the valley of the River Test stands q
busy mill, from which is produced that
paper whose crispness is music to the
human car all the world over. Since
l7l9 this Leverstoke mill has been
busy in the manufacture of Bank of
England note paper, and at the present
time about $4,000 of the coveted crisp
pieces of paper are made there daily.
To careless observer there does not
appear to be much difference between a
Bank of England note of the present day
and one of those which were first issued
toward the end of the seventeenth CEN
tury, but when looked into it will be
found that the present note is, as re-
CARDS the engraved writing, much
more remarkable production.
The fact is, the Bank of England and
forgers of false notes have been running
race-the bank to turn out note
which dcfes the power Of the forger to
initiate, and those nimble-fingered
and keen-witted gentry to keep even
with the bank.
The notes now in use are most elabo-
rately manufactured bits of paper. The
paper itself is remarkable in many
ways; none other has that peculiar feel
of crispness and toughness, while the
eye, when it has satisfied itself with
the amount, may dwell with admira-
ton on the papers remarkable white
fhinnncl. ntN1 trn ~
are guides against two once popular
modes of forgcry--the washing out Of
the printing by means of turpentine
and crasure with the knife.
The wire mark, or water mark, is
another prccaution against counterfeit
ing, and is produced in the paper while
it is in q state of pulp. In the old man
ufacture of bank notes this water mark
was caused by an immense number Of
wires (over 10000 stitched and sewn
together; now it is engraved in Il steel
faced dic-which is afterward harden
ed, and is then used as punch to
stamp the patterns out Of plates of
sheet brass The shading Of the letters
of this water mark enormously in
creases the difficulty of imitation.
The paper is made entirely from
pieces of new linen and cotton, and the
toughness Of it can be roughly guessed
from the fact that single bank note
will, when unsized. support weight Of
thirty-six pounds, while when sized
you may lift tifty-six pounds with it.
Few people would imagine that a
Band of England note was not of the
same thickness all through. 1t is not,
though. The paper is thicker in the
left hand corner, TO enable it to take
better and sharper impression of the
vignette there, and it is also consider
ably thicker in the dark shadows of the
centre letters and under the figures at
the ends. Counterfeit notes are invar-
iably of only one thickness throughout.
The printing is done from electro
types, the figure of Britannia being the
design of Maclisc, the late Royal Acade-
mician.
Even the printing ink is of special
make, and is manufactured at the bank.
Comparing a genuine with a forged
note, one observes that the print on the
latter is generally blush or brown. On
the real note it is velvety black. The
chief ingredients used in making the
ink are linseed oil and the charred
husks and some other portions Of Rhcn-
ish grapes.
The notes are printed at the rate of
5000 an hour at Napier's steam press,
and the bank issues 100000 of them a
year, representing e300,000,0 900 in hard
cash.