SECURITY FEATURES

I. Substrate

When we look at a certain banknote, the first thing that comes to our eyes is often the substrate, i.e., the material on which the banknote is being printed. Unlike the regular banknotes we use in everyday life, banknotes issued by micronations usually adopt rather simpler materials in order to facilitate the printing process and also reduce its costs, albeit some micronations also use specialized materials to enhance the aesthetics of their banknotes or as a security measure against counterfeiting. To summarize, these substrates can be briefly categorized into two broad groups, i.e., paper and polymer, whereas either group consists of a series of slightly different variants.

II. Embedded Features

Some security features are directly embedded in a particular substrate known as security paper, meaning that they are incorporated to paper directly during the papermaking process. The most common ones among these features are watermark, security thread, and fibers, which are widespread among banknotes we use in daily life. Despite its relatively high cost, security paper with these embedded features has also been used by a number of micronations for their banknotes. In some other cases, micronationalists have also found their own way to imitate these features on a tighter budget, e.g., hidden image and security tape.

III. Ink

While most micronations nowadays tend to print their banknotes with a normal inkjet printer, it is not rare for some of them to incorporate special inks as an additional security measure, especially those with a larger budget for their banknotes. Despite some subtle differences between brands, special inks can be generally described as either colored (fluorescent ink and iridescent ink) or colorless (invisible ink), all of which are used rather frequently by micronations around the world.

IV. Stamping

Stamping often involves a special mark that is being pressed onto the banknote once it has been printed. While the mark pressed is usually an official seal or a date stamp, there is a wide variety of methods by which this mark can be applied to the substrate, from the most commonly seen ink stamping, embossing, to hot foil stamping, which requires a certain degree of professionalism.

V. Other Add-on Features

A wide range of additional security measures can be applied to banknotes during designing and printing processes. Generally speaking, micronations tend to adopt simpler and more practical security features on their banknotes, the most frequently seen ones of which are as follows.


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