Fortress Paper Launches First Durasafe Banknote
- Published: January 04, 2013
NORTH VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA | Fortress Paper Ltd. announces the launch of the world's first banknote printed on the company's new Durasafe substrate, an innovative paper-polymer-paper composite produced at its Landqart mill.
With the issuance of the new Moroccan 25 Dirhams scheduled for this month, Bank al Maghrib, Morocco's central bank, will become the first in the world to issue a banknote printed on Durasafe. The front of the banknote features an Intaglio vignette and a watermark of King Mohammed VI, and a magenta/green colorshift security thread developed by the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Fortress Optical Features Ltd. ("FOF"). The thread, like the watermark, is embedded inside the banknote yet visible behind a one-sided polymer window. It also has a fully transparent polymer window embossed with the King's royal crest. The back of the note carries a print vignette commemorating 25 years of banknote printing at the Moroccan State Printing Works, Dar As Sikkah.
The windows in Durasafe are formed by die-cutting each side of the three-layer composite substrate separately. One-sided windows (Viewsafe) give a clear view inside the substrate where the FOF thread and the watermark of King Mohammed VI are protected but fully visible behind the polymer core. The transparent window (Thrusafe) is created by die-cutting both the outer paper layers to reveal only the transparent polymer core.
Chadwick Wasilenkoff, president and CEO of Fortress Paper, commented: "After a decade in development, we are pleased to see the fruits of our labor in the launch of the Moroccan 25 Dirhams. We have designed Durasafe to offer the ideal characteristics of polymer and traditional paper notes to create a new standard for high security banknote substrates. Fortress Paper would like to congratulate the Bank al Maghrib on the launch of their new 25 Dirham banknote and being the first in the world to produce and launch a Durasafe banknote."
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