An apprentice bank note designer is sought by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

More and more people are combining freehand drawing and painting with digital design. It's required for this work. And an ability to collaborate. And, I would presume, humility. Unlike some coin designers, you don't get to sign your work.

We can expect ongoing redesign of U.S. paper money, though, and here's an entry point to that exciting future.

May BEP get the best. Good luck to any hobby-related persons who try!

March is Fraud Prevention Month in Canada, and that means educational efforts related to identifying counterfeit bank notes in circulation.

"As part of Fraud Prevention Month, speakers gathered at the RCMP Heritage Centre on Wednesday. They talked about ways people can spot counterfeit bank notes, cheques and money orders and how to avoid being victimized by identity theft and mail fraud," wrote Trevor Newell in a March 6 story in the Leader-Post of Regina, Saskatchewan.

A couple of statistics about counterfeiting are tossed in to flesh out the story.

The article mentions that DVDs showing characteristics of some fake notes, and also sharing information about how to spot fraudulent checks and detect identity theft, are available from the Bank of Canada.

The DVDs are apparently free to Canada-based retailers. Downloadable segments of the video appear to be available here.

There are further anti-counterfeiting informational videos available from Bank of Canada here.

Completely unrelated — but caught my eye while at the Bank of Canada site — are "souvenir" books about the bank and bank notes, available from the bank.

Can anyone comment on whether the bank's 2006 book about bank notes is worth seeking? It looks good.

 

A story in the March issue of Bank Note Reporter shares the news that PCGS Currency has slabbed a group of notes that were once used to pay ransom to a skyjacker.

The skyjacker, known as "D.B. Cooper," had leapt from an airplane with $200,000 in cash in 1971. Some of it was found in 1980 by an eight-year-old boy named Brian Ingram. He's kept that cash all these years, and now he's having it certified and placed in special holders by PCGS Currency.

The notes, all $20s, suffered great environmental damage prior to being discovered by Ingram, and for this reason PCGS Currency is not assigning grades to the notes. The firm's special holder for the notes includes the distinctive image of the FBI's sketch of "D.B. Cooper."

Further, PCGS Currency staff have pieced together and reported 35 serial numbers that appear the FBI's list of notes given to "D.B. Cooper" but were not previously recognized as being among the notes recovered by Ingram.

Ingram has been reported as saying that he would keep one or a few and disperse the rest, but latest word was that no final decisions had been made as to how or if to sell.

What do you think, you want one? How much would you pay?

The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing has offered several new products in the past couple months, and at least two have sold out within days of going on sale. One other is set to go on sale Feb. 25.

The first to sell out is called the $2 Double Lucky Money set and contains two $2 Federal Reserve Notes. One note's serial number begins with 8888, and the other note's serial number begins with 2008.

Production was limited to 4,888 sets, priced at $48.88 each. And they're all gone.

Also all sold are the 10,000 2008 $2 Single Note packages, which offered Atlanta district Series 2003A $2 FRNs. Price was $7.95 apiece. Other districts are to be offered in calendar year 2008.

More about BEP collector products can be see at the Coming Soon portion of The BEP Store.

The next item listed to become available from BEP is the New York district 2008 $2 Single Note, 10,000 available, price $7.95 each. On-sale date is set for Feb. 25.