Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-17
FORGED BANK NOTES
IN ENGLAND-DESIGN IS EASILY
REPRODUCED.
Bank Of England Paper is Not Nearly
So Safe as Has Been
Imagined.
From London Answers.

From London Answers.
Is the English barknote safe? The num-
Der of forgeries which have taken place In
recent years suggest that 1t is not nearly
so safe from the tricks of the forger as 1t
was once thought to be, and we have the
| statement of the counsel for the Bank OF
| Ell gland to confirm the complaint of those
who demand that it should be changed.
Mr.. Mathews said few weeks ago, at
the Old Bailey, that 1.-The circulation OF
| spurious notes on the continent has be-
come SO extensive in some districts that
now even genuine notes Of Is and f1O are
| most difficult to negotiate. Time was when
a Bank of England note would carry one
mostwheres,' and saw one through most
things; but in some places that is no longer
possible.
Forgers are, of course, becoming more ex-
| pert every year They are better educated
They have scientific knowledge and the aid
OF photography. and the instruments OF
the criminal enterprise are comparatively
cheap. The Bank of England note Is the
most easily forged of all, for it is the
printing on a white paper. The great safe
guard lies in the quality Of the paper. and
the quality Of the printing, and the water
mark on the paper.
To make the actual paper Is beyond the
skill of the cleverest forger. 1t is made
at a small town near London; but so well
has the secret been guarded that the most
sk:lful note printers in the trade do not
understand that, though they know most
o the other secrets.
A London Monopoly.
Note printing is one of the highly skilled
trades which still is virtual monopoly of
the city OF London. 1t has always been
SO, and the great banks of the world come
to the engravers and printers of London
At, ,l1ts .y,.a do
They turn out the most beautiful printing
in Europe. Some of it is of the most COM
plcated description, and in this fact lies
Its great safety.
The steel plate itself is the work of many
hands and many brains. When the main
design has been decided upon, the parts Of
the picture have to be given over to sew
eral engravers. each of whom is skilled in
one branch of his art, and could not ex-
change his part with any of the others
One Is architectural engraver. and, with
a fine needle, he labors for weeks in the
| effort to convey to the metal a perfect
picture of building. Another, with skill
| OF quite a different sort, makes portraits,
a third draws scenery, while a fourth fash
| lens the letters. Still others contrive cor
ner pieces, and then there is the machine
ergra ger, which is more wonderful STILL
| for the machine does work SO fine that no
human eye can initiate 1t.
The complicated work of tracery which
you see on the back and front of Scotch
camera cannot effectively copy it. To re-
produce with photography zinc 1t is
necessary to employ acid. and the acid
would eat away these fine lines. The work
Is done by machine which is made
the principle Of the Paragraph 1t seems
to consist Of multitude of wheels and
eccentrics, and apparatus for guiding and
che cking the needle. and sending it In new
directions at all sorts of unexpected angles
and curves.
After the design has been worked out
on the machine in accordance with the
secret code which is kept by the proprietor
locked in the safe, the machine does the
work itself, if the operator will go on turn
ing the driving crank slowly and steadily.
The plan is taken out with numbers, which
represent the wheels and the code of fig
ures, showing the work which is to be done
by each wheel and how 1t comes into play
But the operator cannot know that secret
The machine simply goes in its own
way, and the least slackening of any Of the
parts will put 1t all out. A workman can
not repair the error for he does not know
the code, and the whole work will be spoiled
until the master comes along and resets the
wheels and other parts in their proper
order.
Blue to Defy the Camera.
Only small part of the design is worked
out by this delicate machine-just enough to
give q complete representation of the pat
tern. Then that portion is stamped on soft
steel, which is hardened by another secret
process and made into sort of die which
Is used to impress other plates of steel. till
the full border is thus completed. or band
made to go across the whole face back
of the note.
In the best of the colored notes three or
four tints are used, and generally you find
that one OF them Is blue. 1t defies the
camera. The different colors are put on
with different plates, and each means a
separate printing. The result Is that If you
hold one of the notes up to the light you
will find that the lines Of the different col
ors run into and through one another, max
ing it impossible to take a perfect copy
even If the camera could catch them all,
which 1t cannot.
very neat device is employed at the
United States treasury in the manufacture
of the paper of Its notes, which renders the
copying of the printing still more difficult.
The paper is manufactured from German
patent While It is being put on the ma
chine in the form of pulp, fine silk threads
are brushed into it, so that when the note
is held up to the light 10 be photographed
these threads come in the picture like dark
lines of print. That spoils the plate. A
forger who lately tried to operate on this
paper took a japanese material called
'on!on skin paper with oiled surface,
and placing silk fiber between two sheets
of 1t, and passing them through hot calen-
der. made a fair copy of the peculiar lines
To copy the printing of colored notes is
next to impossible. The forger can only do
Il by the use of Autograph stones, and they
will not give so fine work to delude any
but the most simple people. 1t would not
be Judicious to describe in detail how the
forger operates in order to make resem-
blance to the real printing on the notes
but this may be said-that he cannot take
a good copy OF the steel plates. and that If
you insist getting really good steel print
ing on notes you accept you will not be
had"
In the days when notes were simpler than
now the Russian notes were occasionally
forged, and cleverly done; but II would be
extremely difficult to get on to a forger's
plates the beautiful work which now adorns
these notes, and the delicate yellow and
other tints.
No forger can get the tracery done by
hand. because no engraver could do it, and
he cannot get the machine. If he had the
machine 1t would take years to work out
the secret combination of figures which
make any particular design. There are only
three or four of these machines In the
world. Then for his design. in the shape
of portraits and architecture and scenery
and lettering. he would want a combina-
ton of four or more engravers of high abil-
ity and bad character, which would be as
hard to come by as the machine. 1t cannot