National Currency Collection

Canada, Bank of Montreal, 10 dollars : January 3, 1859

Object ID: 1973.0006.00011.000

Story

The beginnings of sophisticated money

As the nineteenth century advanced, measures taken to foil counterfeiters became increasingly sophisticated. The bigger, more established banks have always been able to command more detailed and higher quality engraving for their notes than counterfeiters could readily produce, although it must be said that counterfeiters have always been keen on playing catch up. Two-colour printing and the extensive use of finely detailed, machine-made ‘guilloche’ patterns became the norm towards the end of the century.

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