Tag: Counterfeit

Imperial Bank of Canada Counterfeit 1917 $100

Imperial Bank of Canada - Counterfeit

During the First World War, the Germans counterfeited the Imperial Bank of Canada’s $100 banknote presumably to undermine Canada’s financial system.  According to Joseph Boling’s March 12, 2012 presentation to the Chicago Coin Club entitled Official Counterfeiting of Paper Currency, “The counterfeit $100 Imperial Bank of Canada circulated in the Middle East, and became known in Canada in the 1920s. The paper does not feel right on this intaglio item of middle quality — the intaglio is shallow, and all pieces seen in the numismatic market have a Persian bank stamp (the Imperial Bank of Resht in northwest Iran, on…

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Operation Bernhard Bank of England 10 Pounds

Operation Bernhard Bank of England 10 Pounds

During World War II, Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was the location of a secret plot called Operation Bernhard.  Its purpose was to undermine the British economy by issuing counterfeit Bank of England 5, 10 and 20 and 50 pound notes.  The plan was directed by and named after SS Major Bernhard Kruger. Major Kruger recruited 142 counterfeiters from among the inmates.  They were involved in engraving the complex printing plates, developing the appropriate rag-based paper with the correct watermark, and breaking the codes to generate valid serial numbers.   German agents abroad were putting these fake notes into circulation and by the…

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