Author|Lu Zhenxiang
Source: Financial Expo Fortune Issue 1
The banknote printing process is complex, requiring the use of special printing equipment and materials, before the start of the test use of paper, layout production, but also through a series of steps such as offset printing, gravure printing, coding, quality inspection, cutting, sealing. During this period, the defective banknotes will be collected and destroyed, and the qualified banknotes will be put into use and become the banknotes we see in our daily use.
There are also many interesting situations in the process of printing money, such as: misprinting due to printing errors or improper operation, single-sided printing due to cost savings, stamping printing due to special circumstances, etc.
Misprints
In some countries, occasionally the banknote printing agency in the printing of banknotes or due to improper operation of the staff, or because of machine problems, resulting in a small number of banknotes in the printing of problems, in most cases, these unqualified defective products will be found by the relevant staff in the quality inspection and other links, centralized recycling and destruction, but it is inevitable that there will still be a very small number of "problem banknotes" due to various coincidences to be outflowed. These erroneous banknotes that were lucky enough to flow out could not be used normally due to defective defects, and ended up in two places: one was taken to the bank by the holder for equivalent exchange, and the bank would collect the erroneous banknotes received, and the other was collected by the holder.
Common misprints include displacement, missing prints, folded corners, watermark deviations, and white folds during printing. For example, a small number of 5,000 won banknotes issued by the DPRK in 2006 were greatly displaced to the left due to printing problems (Fig. 1), while a small number of 100 rupee banknotes issued by Pakistan in 2021 were omitted due to improper handling of the portrait on the front of the banknotes (Fig. 2).
Single-sided printing
A banknote has a front and a back, and single-sided printing refers to only printing the front pattern of the banknote, ignoring the design and printing of the back of the banknote, so the back of the single-sided printed banknote is empty and blank.
Although the single-sided printed banknote reduces the banknote printing process, reduces the cost of banknote printing, and is more economical and convenient, compared with the double-sided printed banknote, the anti-counterfeiting is not high, and the printing process is relatively rough, so in actual operation, most of the single-sided printing is auxiliary currency, that is, the small amount of money below the main currency unit. For example, during the Republic of China, Hainan Bank issued two cents and five cents banknotes (Fig. 3), during the British occupation of Hong Kong, under George VI (Fig. 4) and Elizabeth II (Fig. 5), and Austria issued 50 Heller banknotes in 1921.
Due to the frequent use and wear of small denomination coins, in this case, coins are in circulation longer and last longer than paper money, so many countries have begun to stop printing small denomination banknotes and replace them with coins, which is why we rarely see new single-sided printed banknotes.
In the currency circle, some unscrupulous money dealers falsely claim that such banknotes are wrong coins with missing backs, and are semi-finished products that have not been completed during the printing process, in order to take the opportunity to coax buyers and raise the price. Therefore, we must have a correct understanding of this special single-sided printed banknote, and beware of being "fooled" in the purchase of collections.
Stamped printing
Stamping refers to the printing of relevant marks on the current banknotes in circulation. According to the actual situation, the reason for stamping is also different, either to commemorate or to adjust the currency value.
Commemorative stamping belongs to the category of commemorative banknotes. There are two types of commemorative banknotes in design: one is a simple commemorative banknote, that is, a completely independent design, and the other is a circulation banknote remodeling, with the circulation banknote as the master, and the relevant words, patterns and other commemorative signs are printed on the face of the ticket. For example, the banknote to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the DPRK issued by the DPRK in 2019 (Figure 6) is based on the 5,000 won banknote and stamped with commemorative characters such as Chinese and Korean. The 50th Anniversary of Independence banknote issued by Jamaica in 2012 (Fig. 7) is a commemorative version of the 50 Jamaican dollar banknote. Although these stamped commemorative banknotes are relatively "lazy" in design, they do not affect the enthusiasm of the majority of collectors in the coin circle.
The change of currency value and stamping are also directly modified on the banknotes in circulation, but they do not have commemorative properties, and their main purpose is to adjust the original face value and currency unit on the banknotes. This type of stamped banknote is mostly found in periods of national economic turmoil, when currency versions are frequently changed and currency reforms are frequent. FOR EXAMPLE, IN 1989, BRAZIL CARRIED OUT A CURRENCY REFORM TO REDUCE THE FACE VALUE OF BANKNOTES, AND INTRODUCED A NEW MONETARY UNIT, THE "NEW CRUZADO NOVO", TO REPLACE THE PREVIOUS MONETARY UNIT "CRUZADO", OF WHICH THE 1, 5, 10 NEW CRUZADO BANKNOTES WERE MADE FROM THE PREVIOUS 1000, 5000 AND 10,000 CRUZADO BANKNOTES WITH A CHANGE MARK IN THE MIDDLE (FIG. 8).
Bosnia and Herzegovina became independent in 1992 and began issuing its own banknotes, the same year that the civil war broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The following year, due to the impact of the war, the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina fell into a deterioration, soaring prices, high inflation, and the urgent need to print larger denomination banknotes, due to the urgency of time, the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to directly revalue and stamp the previously printed small denomination banknotes, so that a large denomination banknote could be released in a relatively short period of time, so a 1992 10 dinar banknote stamped with the words "100,000 dinars" and "1993" appeared (Figure 9).
It may seem arbitrary to change the value of banknotes, but there is no doubt that they are also official legal tender issued at a certain stage in history. However, most of them are emergency works under special circumstances, in order to save printing costs, speed up the speed of banknotes, and put them into use as soon as possible. When everything is stable and normal, and the latest version of the banknote with a complete design is issued, these revalued and stamped banknotes will be gradually recycled and deactivated.
(Courtesy of the author)
(Editor in charge: Hou Haoyi)