Modern Fakes and Fantasies - III
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New: 03 November 2016 |
This page of the modern forgeries section focuses on a more detailed comparison between a genuine banknote and it's online (ebay) acquired modern fake of a very common type.
The banknote:
The Bank of China 10 Yuan of 1934, Tientsin (Tianjin) branch printed by Thomas De La Rue & Co Ltd London. SCWPM 73. Smith & Matravers C294-194. This is one of the scarcer and more attractive notes of the 1930s, depicting a shepherd with his flock of sheep, and on the back; the Great Wall, and the Heralding of Spring Pavilion in the Summer Palace Park, Peking (Beijing). The Tientsin branch was one of the most important in China and controlled the banks currency issue for most of the North.
Below: the front of the two examples being compared, photographed together indoors in natural light with a digital camera. This is to reproduce the conditions often found in images used in online selling.
Stare at these two notes long enough and even someone relatively inexperienced may... either go insane, or hopefully work out which of the two is a modern fake....
The banknote:
The Bank of China 10 Yuan of 1934, Tientsin (Tianjin) branch printed by Thomas De La Rue & Co Ltd London. SCWPM 73. Smith & Matravers C294-194. This is one of the scarcer and more attractive notes of the 1930s, depicting a shepherd with his flock of sheep, and on the back; the Great Wall, and the Heralding of Spring Pavilion in the Summer Palace Park, Peking (Beijing). The Tientsin branch was one of the most important in China and controlled the banks currency issue for most of the North.
Below: the front of the two examples being compared, photographed together indoors in natural light with a digital camera. This is to reproduce the conditions often found in images used in online selling.
Stare at these two notes long enough and even someone relatively inexperienced may... either go insane, or hopefully work out which of the two is a modern fake....
Of the above two notes, it is the top note which is the modern fake. On it's own this note may fool many but when shown alongside a genuine example, the flaws become clearer. The colours are dull and flat with less contrast, which shouldn't be so noticeable even on a well circulated, dirty note. The key point is the quality of the printing: the genuine note is engraved and the colour appears differently; responds differently to the light than the fake note which employs flat, offset lithographic or similar printing (flat and composed of different coloured dots: not the sort of printing used on the vast majority of paper money).
The paper of the fake is of poorer quality and a false aging process has caused this to wrinkle, most noticeably in the top and bottom margins and in the rounded watermark window to the right of the sheep. This area in particular shows the fine wrinkling that should never occur in genuine notes of this type.
A close examination of the fake will reveal that the serial numbers and signatures are part of the printed image; on the genuine note these are overprinted and visually stand out more from the surrounding design.
Though of no use in detecting online fakes, if encountered 'in person', it also won't be of any surprise that the fake lacks a watermark. The genuine note carries a watermarked image of the main hall of the Temple of Heaven in Peking (Beijing).
Below: The back of both notes, again with the fake at the top. On this side the differences including such as the dull printing of the fake are even more obvious. In particular note the reverse of the watermark 'window' at the left; in the fake the printing process has caused faint horizontal lines to appear. It's a good example of the more obvious 'tell-tale' signs to look out for.
The paper of the fake is of poorer quality and a false aging process has caused this to wrinkle, most noticeably in the top and bottom margins and in the rounded watermark window to the right of the sheep. This area in particular shows the fine wrinkling that should never occur in genuine notes of this type.
A close examination of the fake will reveal that the serial numbers and signatures are part of the printed image; on the genuine note these are overprinted and visually stand out more from the surrounding design.
Though of no use in detecting online fakes, if encountered 'in person', it also won't be of any surprise that the fake lacks a watermark. The genuine note carries a watermarked image of the main hall of the Temple of Heaven in Peking (Beijing).
Below: The back of both notes, again with the fake at the top. On this side the differences including such as the dull printing of the fake are even more obvious. In particular note the reverse of the watermark 'window' at the left; in the fake the printing process has caused faint horizontal lines to appear. It's a good example of the more obvious 'tell-tale' signs to look out for.
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The front top-left corner of the fake (far-left) and the authentic note (near left). As has already been noted, the fake is more washed out in appearance and additionally develops a sheen in certain lighting conditions which does not occur with the genuine note. Also note the the very white appearance of the frayed corner of the fake, and that the corners of genuine paper money usually do not wear in this manner. |
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A detailed scan of the Chinese '10' in the top left corner of the front showing the quality of the engraving of the genuine note (on the left in this instance), compared with the fuzzy, dotted lithographic printing of the modern fake on the right. This close-up also reveals that some of the false ageing discoloration of the fake is actually printed on: the dots can clearly be seen in the spaces at the top that should just be plain, unprinted paper. |
