The pioneers thread: UV

I am trying to pinpoint (or at least get very close to) the years that banknotes had the first UV activity.

These are the categories:

1. First use of UV fibres in the paper

2. First use of UV ink on the paper

3. First use of planchettes that fluoresce under UV

4. First use of UV ink that has a different appearance under UVA vs UVC. This one might be by accident in earlier notes

5. First use of UV ink that has phosphorescent properties. This one might be by accident in earlier notes

I'll update this first post as evidence comes in.

For now, these are the firsts from my collection:

First UV fibres: 1959

5 Israeli Pounds (Walks of Life - Labourer) - Israel – Numista

First UV ink: 1955

5 Đồng - South Vietnam – Numista  (a 1 Dong and 2 Dong were also checked and they fluoresce under UV)

First UV planchettes: 1980

2 Gourdes - Haiti (1804-date) – Numista

First UVA and UVC: 1988

20 Korun - Czechoslovakia – Numista

First phosphorescence: 1982

10 Zaïres - Zaire (1971-1997) – Numista

The earliest UV fluorescent I've seen are on 5 dong 1955 notes from South Vietnam (P13, B103), produced by the Security Banknote Company. Perhaps other banknotes from this serie and this manufacturer also may have this protection - I'll have to buy some and check them out when I get a chance; they're inexpensive.

Thanks, I ordered a 5, 2 and 1 Dong.

How certain are we that those were issued in 1955?

My only source for this info is the TBB catalog; I have no other evidence. It says "Intro: 15.11.1955."

We need to check these two also. 

The Polish is dated 1948 but Banknote.db says it was issued in 1950

100 Zlotys - Poland – Numista

The Mexican was issued multiple years. I don't know what date of note has the UV ink as seen  in the catalogue:

50 Pesos - Mexico – Numista

And this 1953:

1 Hwan - South Korea – Numista

Now things are not easy because these are not cheap in good condition and also it is still difficult to work out the exact year of issue.

odd job

The Polish is dated 1948 but Banknote.db says it was issued in 1950

 

100 Zlotys - Poland – Numista

 

 

 

Correct. There was a currency reform in Poland in 1950 and this banknotes is part of the "third złoty currency iteration.'' 

What I am doing now is going through all the American Banknote Company notes from 1910 to 1950. 

The planchettes can be seen on the regular scans and there is a high probability that those planchettes can fluoresce also under UV. It seems there a lot of options from South America, I am seeing Bolivia, Argentina and so on. Some of those are not too expensive. The same applies to some Chinese notes from the same period, printed by ABNC also. Some of those are not expensive.

Now we just have to decide whether planchettes is classified as UV ink, or fibres or its own thing. Because we might find that those planchettes like what we see on the Canada notes from the 1990s might be the only thing that fluoresces on these early notes.

Has anybody figured out yet what a planchette is, in physical terms? Is it a disc of some other material added to the paper, like a sprinkle, or is it drops of ink?

Has anybody figured out yet what a planchette is, in physical terms? Is it a disc of some other material added to the paper, like a sprinkle, or is it drops of ink?

Planchettes are little discs that are embedded into the paper when it's produced. On some particularly worn Canadian notes, you can see where a planchette (and the ink on top of it) has peeled off, leaving a white circle underneath.

https://regulaforensics.com/glossary/banknotes/planchettes/

Thanks!

I think that deserves its own type then, because it isn't a fibre and it isn't ink that was applied to the paper.

I added that category and put an arbitrary note in as a placeholder. I suspect these UV planchettes might have arrived very early in the 20th century.

First post updated: Vlad was right: the 1, 2 and 5 Dong notes from 1955 have the same yellow fluorescent band down the left side.

Of note: these also have planchettes but they do not fluoresce