Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-23
BANK OF ENGLAND NOTE
SAFEGUARDS AGAINST FORGERY
REGARDED AS INSUFFICIENT.
Public May Easily Be Imposed Upon
by Counterfeiter, Says an
Englishman.

The safeguards of the Bank of England
note are the paper used and penal servi-
tude. The printing is comparatively sim
pie. Twice within the last twelve months
the IS note has been forged with success
and the fetish of its perfect safety has been
destroyed said Donald C. Rankin, of Lon
don. to a Star man at the Arlington the
other day
Continental money changers have had
their confidence in the bank note rudeIv
shaken Particularly In France. Belgium.
Holland and north Italy is 1t looked upon
with suspicion. Representatives of large
establishments on the Rivera and other
places frequented by English visitors have
recently come to London to see the genuine
note and discover how they may be dis
tinguished from the false. In London
tradeSmen are troubled with the same fear
OF forgery. and will not readily accept a
Dank note from customer who Is not
known to them.
THE Bank of England. of course is per-
fectly satisfied with the notes and the
methods of detection. 1t can always dis
ungufsh the true from the false by secret
marks, and so protect itself. but the dis
covery is not made until some member of
the public has paid for the note and lost
his money
For three quarters of a century the bank
has been printing the note in virtually the
same style, with fine black ink in a simple
design, on pure white paper having COM
Plicated watermark. The forger is a scien-
fist of sort, and science has advanced
while the. bank stood still. Bankers. bank
inspectors. whose business it is to deal with
forgeries; engravers and bank note printers
agree that there is no essential difficulty in
successfully forging the note
In the genuine notes there are many lit
tie points in engraving that bankers know
n hot n,,1x tl,a ooh
tellers recognize, but they are so small that
the public would not observe the difference
With photography and enlargement these
points reveal themselves. The real note is
beautiful white and perfect black the
ideal conditions for a forger who relies on
Photography. To take a photo and repro
duce 1t on plate in raised letters for print
ing is no very difficult matter. Where many
men have failed is in reaching the ex-
cellence of the original, and that is due to
their want of means.
Safeguard Relied Upon.
1.-The great safeguard on which the Bank
of England relies is the difficulty In imI-
tating the paper and the watermark, but
that has been overcome. the watermark
was very well DONE but with strong light
one can easily photograph the watermark.
and that done the way is clear for repro
ducing 1t on the paper.
THE paper is hand made in the country
ana the marx Is impressed on the sort
pulp by raised design on the wires form
ing the bottom of the frame. Fine linen
rags and threads are basis of the paper
and there is some secret in the compost
ton, as there is in many other papers, but
that does not pass the skill of the forger.
and he can with money, time and little
talent reproduce the design of the mark.
Davenports paper-maker was a little care
less and made certain rough marks smooth
and smooth ones rough.
THE original sheets contain four notes.
They are cut in half and two notes are
printed at time and numbered automati-
cally. Then they are cut again and in the
result each note has two rough edges and
two smooth. 1t is said the bank people
know which edges on a note of given
number should be rough and which smooth.
At any rate that could be quite easily done.
The information guides the bank, but does
not help the people. who obviously cannot
know.
"Engravers and printers of notes for
Scotch. American and foreign banks smile
at the fetish of the Bank of England note.
They regard it with no reverence. Some
years ago a clever foreigner whose wealth
made him independent of forgery, set to
work and made a note that was complete.
save for the signature, and the amount in
the corner. 1t was perhaps the most per-
feet of all the forgeries Of the last cen-
fury, yet it was only done out of curiosity.
No other bank that 1 can discover places
it's trust in plain black print and a water
mark.
The Scotch Notes.
Some of the Scotch notes are made on
paper that contains really no secret and
they depend altogether on fine engraving
and color printing. So far they have not
been forged. One note is adorned with
portraits, scenery and complicated lace
work, engraving both on the face and back,
done with a machine which has secrets of
its own, and then it is printed in five col
ors. On the face are three colors with blue
predominating. and on the back are two.
with blue again Blue battles the photog-
rapher and is a faVorite medium for notes
all over the world.
You can hardly conceive of a combina
ton of talent among forgers sufficient TO
produce a note like that. You want first
of all very fine machinery for engraving be-
cause photography will not do it. Hard
work will not do You must have one man
to engrave the portraits another OF a diff
ferent genius who can do the scenery. an
other who can do the extremely difficult
line and lacework, a clever color printer
and finely adjusted machinery to place the
colors evenly and also paper maker, who
can copy the watermark.
IA banker of wide experience expressed
the general opinion of the experts consulted
when he said: The Bank of England has
been using this note for very long time.
and 1t would not listen to the idea Of
changing. 1t is too conservative in this as
in it's other methods of business. We know
very well that the note can be forged and IL
forged. Our tellers can detect most of the
fOrgerieS, though / believe DavenDortS
notes passed at several branch banks
1.-The Bank of England stands alone in
its reliance on simplicity. Other banks and
note issuing governments depend upon the
complexity of design. the difficulty of re-
producing the fine engraving and on the
help of color printing"
4--
Death From Aneurism. E
From TIE New York Herald