I went to Houston this morning and bought the Epson Artison 800 printer/scanner. It was not available locally. Got it home unpacked it and started trying it out. The results were fantastic! The scans are SO much better than my old one, they are crisp, clean and the color rendition is incredible. I printed a few photos and they look like they came from a lab, yes they are just that good! There are still a few features I have not used/tried yet.

I decided to scan a few banknotes that I had not scanned into my database yet and began scanning them. Each note came out excellent, I had scanned a dozen or so and then it happened. I scanned in a new 1,000 Yen from Japan and as soon as it scanned an error message came up instead of the image! The error message was "This software does not support the unauthorized reproduction of banknotes." OK'ing the message took me to a site on the internet where the legal requirements on currency reproductions were defined. It took me to the section on JAPANESE currency! The scan was within the legal requirements but the scanner would NOT scan the Japanese note. Upside down, at an angle, partially covered, it recognized it EVERY time, sending me to the same site.

This technology has been around a long time and was first used when color copiers began to make high quality reproductions. I knew it existed and I think I have even discussed it here when talking about counterfeiting, but I had never encountered it personally. Once I saw it worked so well with Japanese currency I thought I would try others since the first dozen scans I had made worked fine. I got a crisp new US $20 and thought if it won't copy a Japanese Yen, I have no hope for US currency. Wrong! $20 bill scanned perfectly! I could not find (so far) another note that it would kick out. I have not tried all that many yet.

I borrowed an image of the Japanese Yen I was trying to scan. Here it is …. (NOT MINE...)