Recognising Counterfeits

Before the printing of paper currency evolved to become the sophisticated process it is today, banks would struggle with widespread counterfeit notes that were difficult for bank tellers to spot. In response, they started training their tellers to study the various types of fake notes, but that did not help because counterfeit money would also change over time. Eventually, the banks realised the best way to train tellers on how to spot a fake note, was to have them spend weeks exclusively handling, touching, counting, and smelling genuine banknotes.