Sample of Rand McNally Safety Paper

Corporate efforts to combat counterfeiting at the turn of the century.

This ephemeral sampler pack of colored safety paper was issued as a promotional item by Rand McNally & Company of Chicago. Nine brightly colored sheets feature a variety of security features to minimize forgery; surface tinted sheets, guilloche patterning (with corporate branding), and (likely) chemical treating to identify any ink eradicators. The finest of security measures from the late 1890s into the early 1920s.