So I'm doing some online searching through the National Archives, which has some pretty interesting records. I plug in "Bureau of Engraving and Printing" and one of the multitude of responses is a declassified State Dept. message from Henry Kssinger regarding the soon-to-be issued $2 FRN! John Stoides, who worked in the Currency Technology Office of the Federal Reserve System, was worried about the note being issued before tagging was perfected. Kis singer said tough beans. [NOTE: I have to misspell his name or I get an automatic emoticon: Kissinger] Great bit of history -- plus it has HK's phone number at the end! Anyone want to give him a ring?
It is not really from Kis inger. Kis inger was Secretary if State. The message is from Deputy Director of Customs Kenneth Dehart to the BEP Director James COnlon who was apparently in Thailand at the time. It was sent via State Department cable to the Embassyin Bangkok. All State Department cables carry the name of the Secretary. There are two interesting tidbits in the message. First, what is the "tagging" that is discussed. John Stoides who is mentioned in the cable worked for the Federal Reserve in the Currency Technology Office. He also holds patents for technology to electronically determine the denomination of paper money. The more interesting reference is at the end of paragraph 2 where it discusses the BEP desire to use red ink.
Thanks for parsing out the sender/recipient question, Lettow. The Bangkok address confused me, too. As to the tagging and the red ink, that's a mystery that might require some further delving into the National Archives. Meanwhile, here are another couple interesting cables I fished out. These relate to the American Bank Note Co. which in 1974 was almost thwarted by their competitor from a $6 million deal with the National Bank of Vietnam. The State Dept. saved the day! Lettow maybe you can figure out who the players are in these.
The old O'Donnell currency catalog talks about a plan to implement some sort of "signature" into the currency in order to allow for automated detection of counterfeits. Apparently it never happened, but in the late '70s or early '80s it was thought to be imminent. There's a specific mention of changing the seal color in order to distinguish the new notes from older ones lacking this "signature". I'm guessing that this cable refers to the same contemplated technology....
In philately, "tagging" refers to imprinting stamps with a fluorescent dye so that they were detectable under UV scanners as the mail was processed. The tagging triggered cancellation machines that applied postmarks. I don't know if this was the same concept the BEP was considering for currency, but it would have had potential for automated counting and sorting machines.
Dug out my copy of O'Donnell to get the details straight. The following are quotes from the BEP director's testimony before a House committee in 1978: It's not certain that this is all talking about the same thing as the "tagging" mentioned in the cable that started this thread, but some of the details do seem to correspond. O'Donnell speculated that the "signature" under discussion was possibly a magnetic fiber in the currency paper; but he didn't give any indication as to why it never went into production.
