$20 and Big Secrets!

In a previous discussion about strategies to foil counterfeiters and pirating (like the idiotic CAPs system), foofers mentioned the tiny yellow 20's on $20 bills. That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to paper money! Besides the water marks and magnetic strips and red and blue felt threads in the actual paper, the Treasury Dept. uses a number of micro-print strategies and has done so nearly as long as paper money has existed.
( Paper Money Secrets! (one image, 160K) )

There are people who are fanatic about studying printed money. Some of the "secrets" can be found in a very cool series of books called Big Secrets, by William Poundstone. This book was fascinating to me: "secret recipies" like Colonel Sanders 11 different herbs and spices (salt, pepper, msg); mysterious repeating morse letters on ham frequencies; how to cheat on Rorschach inkblot tests, etc. Great bathroom reading!

$20 and Big Secrets!

In a previous discussion about strategies to foil counterfeiters and pirating (like the idiotic CAPs system), foofers mentioned the tiny yellow 20's on $20 bills. That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to paper money! Besides the water marks and magnetic strips and red and blue felt threads in the actual paper, the Treasury Dept. uses a number of micro-print strategies and has done so nearly as long as paper money has existed.
( Paper Money Secrets! (one image, 160K) )

There are people who are fanatic about studying printed money. Some of the "secrets" can be found in a very cool series of books called Big Secrets, by William Poundstone. This book was fascinating to me: "secret recipies" like Colonel Sanders 11 different herbs and spices (salt, pepper, msg); mysterious repeating morse letters on ham frequencies; how to cheat on Rorschach inkblot tests, etc. Great bathroom reading!

$20 and Big Secrets!

In a previous discussion about strategies to foil counterfeiters and pirating (like the idiotic CAPs system), foofers mentioned the tiny yellow 20's on $20 bills. That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to paper money! Besides the water marks and magnetic strips and red and blue felt threads in the actual paper, the Treasury Dept. uses a number of micro-print strategies and has done so nearly as long as paper money has existed.
( Paper Money Secrets! (one image, 160K) )

There are people who are fanatic about studying printed money. Some of the "secrets" can be found in a very cool series of books called Big Secrets, by William Poundstone. This book was fascinating to me: "secret recipies" like Colonel Sanders 11 different herbs and spices (salt, pepper, msg); mysterious repeating morse letters on ham frequencies; how to cheat on Rorschach inkblot tests, etc. Great bathroom reading!