Introduction to Security Printing

Certain printed documents -- cash, stamps, passports and the like -- have value far beyond the paper they are printed on. This makes them targets for counterfeiting. So a special series of processes has been developed to poduce such documents. The things that can be controlled in the printing process are essentially the paper, the ink, and the printing equipment/process. This book discusses all of these and more as it talks about the technology of making documents secure enough that forgeries can be immediately recognized by people with little training. In recent years the advent of color copying has forced a whole series of changes in the security printing business. This means that new technologies such as inks visible under special lighting conditions, micro printing, holograms and many other techniques have become available and are covered here. Finally there is a section on marketing security printing along with some discussion on the risks involved.