The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1907-03-07
EANK OF ENGLAND NOTES.
The Enormous Output and the Safe.
guards Against Forgery.

! Inc Bank OF England refuses to
use color for its notes on account
Of the fact that the authorities be-
lieve that its whiteness and appar-
ent simplicity are the greatest safe
guards against forgery. The white
ness of a Bank of England note is
different to that of any other pa
per and is obtained by using only
the very finest linen rags in the
making.
At LaverStoke, a little village in
Hampshire, the paper is prepared,
and at the mill there every blank
is as zea,,ously guarded as if it were
already engraved. livery workman
or workwoman cnployed at the mill
is bound to secrecy, and the secrets
Of the mysterious water mark and
texture of the paper are known only
by the most tried and trusted of the
workmen.
1t is not generally known that ev-
cry bank note bears private water
mark, which is constantly being
changed in n way known only to the
head officials and which is discern
ible through a microscope only.
And it says much for the vigilance
and skill of the Bank of England
cashiers that, although they pay on
an average $4,000 in exchange for
notes every day, they have never
yet paid a forged note.
The easiest way to detect forged
note is by dampening corner with
the tongues If genuine, the water
mark appears very distinct. In
counterfeit notes it almost oisap-
peas. On genuine ''6ver" there
is a small white DOT on the right
side of the Old I:-cg.ish Il" in the
word Give" The tail of the letter
"F" in the sentence 'For the Gov
ernor and Company" is also left in
an incomplete state.
The ink with which bank notes
are printed is made Of charred
husks and stems Of Rhenish vines,
and the recipe, like the manufac-
ture of the paper, is a carefully
guarded secret.
Each bank note costs about q
halfpenny to produce and on an av-
erage is in circulation about seventy
days. After being paid the notes
arc stored by the bank for five years,
at the end of which time they are
destroyed bv burning in large fur
mace. Eighteen millions of money
thus disappear in the course OF ev-
cry year.
Once a note is returned to the
bank it is never reissued, and after
being cancelled by having the sig
nature of the chief cashier torn off
tbs placed in what is known as the
bank note library for purposes OF
reference. There are no fewer than
12O clerks in this department, and
so perfect is their system of filing
that any one of the .77,745,oO0
notes which form the usual stock
on hand can be reached in five min
utes.
Altogether the Bank of England
has some el5,O00,000 worth OF notes
in circulation and issues between
$4,000 and 10000 notes of various
denominations each day. There are
seventy or eighty kinds of Bank OF
England notes of different values.
Every year about 5000 of the notes
issued are lost or destroyed by the
owners. At any rate, they are nev-
er returned to the bank and repre-
sent clear profit. While it is true,
however, that if a note never comes
back the bank profits to that
amount, they never can tell when
these so called missing notes may
be presented.
Some people possess a weakness
for hoardirg bank notes, and the re-
suit has been that frequently the
bank is called upon to cash dirty,
crump3ed notes which were issued
years ago.--London Tit-Bits.