Scamming the realm

Counterfeit 100 dollar bill, dated 1974 but probably made later. Over-stamped with "Contrefaçon" on both sides. On display at the British Museum, London

Scamming the realm, especially when funding wars, has been a stable of governments for a very long time. 

Photos of Roman coins from the republican to the imperial periods characterized. D – Denarii, A – Antoninianus. Dates are approximate.

Wiescher turned his attention to Roman denarii in 2019. The Roman silver denarius was the backbone currency of the Roman Empire between 200 BCE and 300 CE, according to Wiescher. During Nero's reign, the coins were required to be 92.5 percent silver, in order to protect the currency against inflation and devaluation. Despite the emperor's reputation for tyranny and debauchery, "Nero was a one of the most fiscally responsible of his progenitors and successors, sticking to the laws in the way of having the coins minted," said Wiescher.

But the analysis of coins from 250 BCE to 350 BCE showed declining percentages of silver. According to Wiescher, the Roman mints gradually debased the denarius, deliberately, to increase their profits and make it easier to finance ongoing wars in the empire. The mints relied on certain metallurgical techniques to hide the lower percentages of silver to keep inflation at bay. By 295 CE, the silver content was just about 5 percent.

A 20-shilling bill, date August 10, 1739, printed by Benjamin Franklin.

Seems Ben was also vigilant in trying to preserve the viability of currency using inkss and art to do the deed.

In light of that early history, it's appropriate that Benjamin Franklin is featured on the US 50-cent piece and 100-dollar bill, given his efforts to promote printed currency and combat forgeries in Colonial America. By the time he was 23, Franklin was a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette and eventually becoming rich as the pseudonymous author of Poor Richard's Almanack. He was a strong advocate of paper currency from the start.

For instance, in 1739, Franklin's printed currency for Pennsylvania deliberately misspelled the state's name. The intent was to set a trap for counterfeiters, who presumably would correct the misspellings in their forgeries. Franklin also made his own inks. He used a mercury sulfide red ink, as well as bone black ink (made from carbonized animal bones)—or at least that's what he advertised. His own personal mixed inks seem to have been pure graphite, per Wiescher. X-ray analysis of the British paper copies showed the phosphorus and calcium signatures of bone black ink, but Franklin's original banknotes don't have that signature.

There's a reason Ben's on the 100s IMHO. :)