Security by design

It is said that money makes the world go around. Coins have been in use since ancient times, and the practice of clipping the precious metal from them arrived at approximately the same time. When banknotes were introduced in the West in the late seventeenth century, they were handwritten. Initially there was no uniformity of format or denomination, and, according to Andrew Bailey, the chief cashier of the Bank of England, "People, familiar with using coin, needed to be persuaded that a simple piece of paper had any value at all." That soon changed, however, and banknotes quickly became the target of fraud and forgery.

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Authorities in charge of national banks have spent much time and effort in trying to foil would-be forgers. In England counterfeiting was a crime once punishable by hanging. The watermark was introduced by the Bank of England to make it more difficult to forge paper currency in 1697--just three years after the bank's founding. More recent measures to prevent counterfeiting have included the incorporation of a metal strip into paper currency in 1943, then foil holograms, and features only visible with infrared light.

An exhibition called Security by Design is on view at the Bank of England Museum until October 26. It includes examples of historical and modern counterfeits; the first paper note to feature an image of Britannia, which dates from 1694; and a survey of the changing image of Elizabeth II on banknotes since 1960. The show was organized by John Keyworth, the museum's curator, who also wrote the accompanying booklet entitled Forgery: The Artful Crime, which may be purchased at the museum's shop.

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