Track 29

Track 29.

In your previous talks, you have looked at coins and then the rise of bank notes as the form of currency.

Now today I’d like to briefly cover the idea of bank note security.

I thought that the 2017 introduction of a new £5 note in the UK would provide a great example of how banks are fighting against fake or counterfeit money.

Now you may already know that the newer note is not as large as the previous one, 15 % less to be exact, and is made of a durable polymer, sometimes referred to as ‘plastic’, which will give the note a longer life and make the note harder to copy.

On the left-hand part of the note there are three security elements of particular interest: a small portrait of the Queen, the Elizabeth Tower, with Big Ben, and lastly a pound sign which changes from purple to green depending on the angle you look at it.

All these are incorporated on a see-through window.

In addition, the image of the Elizabeth Tower shows as gold coloured on the front of the note, but on the back of the note it is silver.

Directly below this is a kind of hologram.

It’s a silver patch which shows either the word ‘five’ or the word ‘pounds’ depending on how you look at it.

And above the Elizabeth Tower is a similar feature, but this one shows the coronation crown in three dimensions, and produces a rainbow effect when viewed at certain angles.

Interestingly, on the back of the note this patch shows the word ‘Blenheim’, but the metal foil here, that’s to say, the metal that forms the patch, is green.

Last but not least, is something you cannot see, well, at least not under normal conditions.

In the top-middle section of the note, the number 5 will appear in the white triangular shape underneath the words ‘Bank of England’, but only when viewed under UV or ultra-violet light.

Most bank notes these days have similar features and