Variety or variation?

News: Registration is free here at the CPMF!

Have a look at the patterns to the left of the clear windows on the backs of this pair of polymer $50s. The lozenge elements are so much more pronounced on the note on the right. It seems different enough to me that it could be considered a variety, or is this just normal variations in the printing process?

Forget what you circled.  Those differences in appearance can be explained by the fact that two different printing companies made those two notes.

What I find way more interesting is the extra design in the clear window of the GHB note.  What is that?? 

Forget what you circled.  Those differences in appearance can be explained by the fact that two different printing companies made those two notes.

Is it true that both companies are printing polymer notes? I thought it was only one doing it now; despite the continued use of the printer-identifying prefix.

What I find way more interesting is the extra design in the clear window of the GHB note.  What is that?? 

It's part of another note showing underneath.

Is it true that both companies are printing polymer notes? I thought it was only one doing it now; despite the continued use of the printer-identifying prefix.

It's part of another note showing underneath.

I believe it is only the CBN now printing polymer notes. AHU was one original polymer $50 notes while GHB is one of the latest. This has been the case since 2012.

Have a look at the patterns to the left of the clear windows on the backs of this pair of polymer $50s. The lozenge elements are so much more pronounced on the note on the right. It seems different enough to me that it could be considered a variety, or is this just normal variations in the printing process?

There are two things that are happening to cause the effect that you seeing:

1) Variation in the intensity of the colour/tint. The prominent diamond like shape that you see in the GHB is also there in the AHU but the GHB is more intense in the example that you have shown. This type of variation occurs within prefixes of the same printers.

2) Slight variation in registration between the different litho printing layers (different tints - similar to colour separation in multi-colour printing). That's why you see more or less of the print going into the clear window.


In addition to the above there are scan artifacts in the image that has been posted.

I classify these as variations. There are many number of variations that give a noticeably different visual appeal to the notes.

I tried to post some images to show examples but it gave me XML return failed error. Will try later.