I thought the holographic strip was one continuous piece that was stuck onto the surface of the current upgraded Journey series notes. It appears instead to be printed on, judging by this note:
{http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5527/20holoerror.jpg:http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/5527/20holoerror.th.jpg}
{http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5448/20holoerrorc2.jpg:http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5448/20holoerrorc2.th.jpg}
The holographic strip has some obvious bald patches where it is missing. At first impression, one would assume that a circulated note with design elements missing in places is just the result of normal wear. However, I know for fact that the holographic strip is printed first, then covered by a thin plastic layer to protect it, and then the design of the note is printed on top of the plastic. I know this because I found a note that I thought had a cool double printing error but, instead, had the plastic strip from another note lightly stuck to it. I pulled it off and the design of the note can be seen on it:
{http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3807/plasticstrip.jpg:http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3807/plasticstrip.th.jpg}
So I believe the note shown above is a minor error with an incomplete holographic strip. The plastic covering it is in situ. You could make the suggestion that, if the plastic is removable, someone could remove it, erase some of the hologram, and then reapply the plastic. I'll bet this is not as easy as it sounds, and even if it is possible, the workmanship would have to be perfect to not leave any signs of tampering. While the note above is genuinely circulated (in Fine condition), it shows no signs of distress as a result of funny business.
Has anyone seen a note with this same type of error on a much larger scale, like 50% or more of the hologram missing?
- M
[edit] Images moved to ImageShack - mmars [/edit]
Canadian Paper Money
