Add one more to the roster: his early work in printing colonial paper currency designed to counter a constant threat of counterfeiting. Franklin was an early innovator of printing techniques that used colored threads, watermarks and imprints of natural objects such as leaves to make it far harder for others to create knockoffs of the paper bills he printed. The work examined Franklin's penchant for including watermarks, tiny indigo-dyed threads and “fillers” of special crystal in printed bills to create barriers to copycats. Counterfeiters naturally sought to keep their costs low, and thus were loath to invest in improving their own printing techniques. The Revolutionary War, however, brought on such a surge of counterfeiting — much of it provided by the British army — that the new United States government shunned paper bills in favor of coinage for decades.

Source: The Guardian July 18, 2023 03:27 UTC