Adobe Photoshop: Counterfeit deterrence system

A face tattoo, on the other hand...

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/note281993.html

Nevertheless I'd managed to keep the note for the better part two years before I exchanged it at a Commonwealth Bank in Australia for which I recall I received around $730 AUD (roughly $500 USD).

Whilst the note has no monetary value today (having been superseded by the Euro), a keen notaphilist would pay about $3,300 AUD for a note in the same excellent condition as mine. That's roughly 4.5 times the amount I exchanged it for some 20 years ago.

Incidentally, I obtained the note in exchange for five 1,000† schilling notes at a Creditanstalt Bank in Vienna. At the time I'd seen the 5000 schilling banknote but never possessed one but after seeing a teller unwrap a brand new bundle of them I asked him to exchange one for me.

It's worth noting that at the time I'd never been so close to so much money in my whole life - nor have I ever been since.

The bank notes were clearly visible, they were stored immediately behind the teller so that he had immediate access to them whenever he turned around to face them. They were tightly stacked horizontally on top of each other in a row of vertical U-shaped storage channels arranged by ascending denomination (e.g.: 10, 50 ...5000) with their narrow side facing outwards.

I cannot recall the exact height of the channels but likely each was 30 to 50cm tall. In effect, the teller had wall of money behind him. How much money there was I'd hardly even be able to guess. The largest denomination was 5000 schillings - you figure it out, how much money would there be in a stack of tightly-packed, freshly-minted 5000 schilling notes some 30/50 cm heigh? A damn lot, more money than I'll ever own.

I found the whole scene sureal, especially the casual way the teller would turn around and grab notes from the stacks with one hand whenever he wanted them whilst simultaneously holding a cigarette in the other.

The Viennese are a trusting lot, I could never imagine a situation like that ever existing from where I come from.

My interest in possessing the banknote was multifold, the note was beautiful and I wanted to examine it closely, that was heightened by the fact that on its obverse side it had a bust of one of the greatest composers who ever lived and whose music I love - Mozart; and finally, printed notes use the finest printing technology available anywhere and examining then carefully gives one an insight into how such high quality printing is done. I also find it fascinating to compare the different approaches and technologies that various countries use in the printing of their currencies.

__

† BTW, the 1000 schilling notes I used to obtain the 5000 schilling note is also of considerable interest, not only is it also a beautiful note but on its obverse side it has a bust of the famous quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger - of Schrödinger's equation fame along with his infamous cat!

I still possess several of these notes in mint condition along with others including the excellent 50 schilling note that's magenta in color which has a bust of Sigmund Freud on it.

In my opinion this series of Austrian banknotes is one of the best ever designed (by that I mean from an artistic perspective - not its technology).

_____

Edit/Update:

Here's the Sigmund Freud banknote: https://www.banknotes.com/at149.htm

And the Erwin Schrödinger one is here: https://www.banknotes.com/at152.htm

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation

You cannot make counterfeit currency with Photoshop. Paper money has security features that won't even convert to pixels in the first place, like holograms, transparencies and fibers embedded in the paper and such, never mind reproduce by conventional printing.

This whole deterrence system is idiotic.

People who accept an obviously fake printed copy of a banknote basically deserve it; it goes with their collection of wooden nickels.

There's a couple firms who maintain reference catalogs for this sort of thing. At least one of them regularly asks for 300-dpi scans of new issues so they can keep the book (which is now basically a PDF released as a subscription) up to date.

Do restrictions like this even serve as a road bump for real counterfeiting operations? Or do they exist to create a sense of ubiquitous surveillance? To lower the general public’s baseline expectations for autonomy and privacy? To drop another anchor that can be used to justify unrelated intrusions in the future?

There's a joke about a famous prophet in there somewhere.

And I jest, but there's a point in my quip too:

Annoyingly getting in the way of creative workflows probably does very little to prevent actual counterfeiting in comparison to what it does to enhance the piety surrounding our increasingly digital origami deity.

We used to basically destroy the paper so it felt 'used.' The first couple times sure just old as hell money. But i'm sure that lady had to have known when all the money looked like that!

They probably just want kids to have fun & get snacks.

But also I hate that we charge kids for meals in the first place.

The food should be free for all and much healthier and better quality.

Better off parents will still pay for their kids' meals regardless via taxes.

We just create ultimate dystopian society step by step. Of course because of our safety.

Do anyone actually belive that those "protection implementation" will reduce actual fraud? Criminals will use other tools anyway.

still same when it's low res, like 200x200px 72 dpi

This seems much easier to exploit though assuming some devices / applications will notify the FBI with enough suspicious activity. I guess it depends if counterfeiting is taken as seriously as CSAM.