Adding New Elements to Card Printing —Cagle

PLATES GET HAMMERED: Last month a treasure trove of printing plates used by banks to make ornate currency—plates that had sat in the archives of American Bank Note for roughly 150 years—went up for auction, according to the Associated Press.

A New Hampshire firm, American Numismatic Rarities, examined and catalogued more than 200 tons of plates. About 900 of the plates were used by banks for printing money—a commonplace practice before the federal government began printing money in quantity during the 1860s—and upwards of 20,000 plates were used for other notable printing jobs.