Towards a "fingerprint" of paper network; separating forgeries from genuine by the properties of fibre structure

A novel method is introduced for distinguishing counterfeit banknotes from genuine samples. The method is based on analyzing differences in the networks of paper fibers. The main tool is a curvelet-based algorithm for measuring the distribution of overall fiber orientation and quantifying its anisotropy. The use of a couple or more appropriate parameters makes it possible to distinguish forgeries from genuine samples as concentrated point clouds in a two- or three-dimensional parameter space. Furthermore, the techniques of making watermarks is investigated by comparing genuine and counterfeit e50 banknotes. In addition, the so-called wire markings are shown to differ significantly from each other in all of investigated banknotes.peerReviewe