Following the recent surge in counterfeiting which seems to have spread throughout the world, you’re probably aware of the fact that the currency bank notes you carry and use have some distinctive security features which you can use to separate the fake notes from the real ones, but if you had to go through all those features at this very point in time, would you be able to tell a fake apart from a genuine bank note? Probably not.
Thankfully it appears as if the counterfeiting surge has died down a bit and it’s only really still a problem in those global tourism hot spots like Buenos Aires in Argentina, but be that as it may, we tend to take things like bank notes for granted when there’s a whole lot more which goes into their design. You probably have an idea of what your money looks like, but do you really know your money? Would you be able to name all the basic features which form part of the design of the bank notes you use so readily each and every day? Most people can’t and while there’s no real need for them to be able to in any case, just thinking about it for a second reveals some rather interesting insights.
One of the most interesting and important features which most of us take for granted or perhaps aren’t even remotely aware of is that of some texturing built into the design of bank notes so that visually impaired people can also use them without much trouble. Most of us who are blessed with the gift of sight do indeed take these things for granted, but to the visually impaired individual who refuses to be a victim of their circumstances, something as simple as a raised denomination print is the equivalent of the average person’s option of being able to file a financial claim with a financial claims specialist such as Stanton Fisher. The new bank notes recently introduced in the UK have had their designs catering even more so to the visually impaired through many new features, but such features have long been part of the design of bank notes issued by the ECB and in places such as South Africa.
That’s largely why bank notes and coins are of different sizes, generally, but if you really took the time to have a good look and feel, you’d notice that there are a lot more features built into the design of bank notes beyond those which are associated with security.
Otherwise just for interest’s sake, some other features which go into the design of bank notes include watermarking and machine-readable markings (although these are largely for security reasons).
So there is indeed a whole lot more which goes into the production of the piece of paper we tie so much value to, which the inquisitive mind cannot help but at least take a closer look at. Ultimately though it’s all about security and user-friendliness so that we don’t spend too much time scrutinising the money we spend, but rather spend time spending it!