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BANKIPUR

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 321 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BANKIPUR , an See also:

ancient See also:village on the See also:Hugli See also:river in the See also:Bengal See also:Presidency, near the See also:modern Palta above Barrackpore. It has disappeared from the See also:map, but is famous as the See also:principal See also:settlement of the See also:ill-fated See also:Ostend See also:Company, the one See also:great effort made by See also:Germany to secure a foothold in See also:India. The Ostend Company was formed in 1722-1723, and with a See also:capital of less than a million See also:sterling founded two settlements, one at Coblom (Covelong) on the See also:Madras See also:coast between the See also:English Madras and the Dutch Sadras, and the other on the Hugli between the English See also:Calcutta and the Dutch See also:Chinsura. Both English and Dutch were offended and in 1727, in See also:order to obtain the See also:European See also:guarantee for the Pragmatic See also:Sanction, the See also:court of See also:Vienna resolved to See also:sacrifice the Company and suspended its See also:charter. It became bankrupt in 1784 and ceased to exist in 1793. But in the mean-See also:time in 1733 the English and Dutch stirred up the See also:Mahommedan See also:general at Hugli to pick a See also:quarrel. He attacked Bankipur and the See also:garrison of only fourteen persons set See also:sail for See also:Europe. Thus See also:German interests disappeared from India. See also:BANK-NOTES. For our See also:present purpose we include in this description all See also:paper substitutes for metallic currency whether issued by See also:banks, governments or other See also:financial institutes. See also:Early bank-notes were simply printed forms in which the amounts were written by See also:hand. They were usually for large amounts (4o and upwards) and were printed upon See also:water-marked paper; and, although no precautions were taken in the See also:engraving to prevent fraudulent See also:imitation, forgeries were comparatively rare.

But, when at the end of the 18th See also:

century small notes for 1 and £2 were put in circulation, See also:forgery became rife, as many as 352 persons being convicted of this See also:crime in See also:England in a single See also:year; and from that time to the present a See also:constant trial of skill has been going on between the makers of bank-notes and the counterfeiters. See also:Engine-turned ornaments and emblematical figures or views introduced in the engraving, in See also:conjunction with See also:special water-marks in the paper, held the forgers somewhat in check until the See also:discovery of See also:photography put into the hands of the counterfeiter a most dangerous weapon, by the aid of which complicated patterns and vignettes could be perfectly reproduced. To prevent such See also:reproduction See also:Henry Bradbury in 1856 introduced See also:anti-photographic bank-See also:note See also:printing, in which the essential portions of the note were printed in one See also:colour and over this another protective colour was placed. A photograph of a note printed in this way presented a confused mingling of the two See also:colours; but with the advance of photographic knowledge means were found of obtaining a photograph of either colour See also:separate from the other, and it consequently became necessary to introduce a third colour and to secure a special photographic relation between the three colours to prevent their separation. Photography, however, although the most dangerous weapon of the counterfeiter, is not the only means of imitation available, a fact which is sometimes overlooked. A note may be perfectly secure against photographic reproduction, but from the See also:absence of other necessary features may be easily copied by an engraver of See also:ordinary skill. There are two systems of engraving employed in bank-notes:—(1) See also:line-engraving in which the lines are cut into the See also:steel or See also:copper plates; and (2) See also:relief-engraving in which the lines stand up above the See also:plate as in See also:wood-engraving. In the former, adapted to the See also:process called plate-printing, the See also:ink is delivered from the lines in the plate to the paper pressed upon it; in the latter, adapted to See also:surface-printing, the ink is spread upon the See also:face of the lines and printed as in See also:typography. Plate-printing gives by far the finer and sharper impression, but as there is a perceptible See also:body of ink transferred to the paper from the cut lines, it has been supposed that an impression from plate would be more easily photographed than one from surface where only a film of ink is spread upon the See also:top of the raised lines. But surface-printing being much less See also:sharp and distinct than plate-printing, imperfect copies of notes for which that process is used are the more likely to See also:escape detection. The plates upon which the early notes were engraved being of copper quickly wore out and had to be constantly replaced. The result was great difference in the See also:appearance of the notes, those printed from new plates being sharp and clear, while others, printed from old plates, were See also:pale and blurred.

These See also:

differences were a great assistance to the forger, as the public, being accustomed to See also:variations of appearance between different genuine notes, were less See also:apt to remark the difference between these and counterfeits. In the early See also:part of the 19th century, See also:Jacob See also:Perkins (1766–1849) introduced into England from See also:America what is known as the See also:transfer-process, in which the See also:original engraving on steel is hardened and an impression taken from it on a soft steel See also:cylinder, which in its turn is hardened and pressed into a soft printing-plate. By this means as many absolutely identical plates can be produced as may be required, and being hardened they will yi a very large number of prints without any appreciable deterioration. Another method of securing uniformity is the multiplication of plates by electro-deposition, the surface of the copper-electrotype plates being protected by the See also:deposit of a film of steel which effectually prevents the wearing of the copper and can be renewed at will. The water-See also:mark of the paper, on which formerly reliance was placed almost exclusively, puts a difficulty in the way of the counterfeiter, but experience has shown that in ordinary circumstances it does not in itself afford adequate See also:protection. The means by which it can be imitated are well known, and, since a distinct water-mark is incompatible with strong paper, the See also:life of a water-marked note is much shorter than that of one printed upon See also:plain paper. The best bank-note paper is made from pure See also:linen rags and was formerly made by hand. See also:Machine-made paper is however now largely used, as it possesses all the strength of hand-made and is much more See also:uniform in thickness and texture. In documents which pass current as See also:money it is obviously the See also:duty of the bank or See also:government issuing them to take all See also:reason-able means to prevent the public from being defrauded by the substitution of counterfeits; and a bank whose circulation depends upon the confidence of the public must do so in its own interests to insure the See also:acceptance of its notes. This principle is now recognized by all issuing institutions, but in practice there is See also:room for improvement in the issues of many important establishments, partly because of the disinclination of the See also:directors of a bank to See also:change the See also:form of an issue to which the public is accustomed, partly because of the difficulty of deciding what is really a secure note, and in certain cases because, owing to exceptl'bnal circumstances, an issue may be practically immune from forgery although the notes themselves present little or no difficulty in imitation. The features essential to the See also:security of an issue are (I) See also:absolute identity in appearance of all notes of the issue; (2) adequate protection by properly-selected colours against photographic reproduction; and (3) high-class engraving comprising geometric See also:lathe See also:work and well-executed vignettes. In addition it is important that the See also:design of the note should be striking and pleasing to the See also:eye, and the inscription legible.

The notes of the Bank of England are printed in the bank from surface-plates in See also:

black without colour or special protection except the water-mark in the paper. They are never reissued after being once returned to the bank, and their See also:average life is very See also:short, about six See also:weeks, so that a dirty or worn Bank of England note is practically never seen. This arrangement, coupled with the difficulty of negotiating forged notes in England, the lowest See also:denomination being £5, accounts for the See also:comparative See also:immunity from forgery of the bank's issues.

End of Article: BANKIPUR

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