# The feel of money

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/10/20/feel-money/
- Published: 2009-10-20T10:51:23+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

We all like the feel of money, whether it’s our own or the money that we raise for
charitable causes. But have you stopped to think what banknotes are made of?

 

 [⌊Hong Kong Dollars⌉](http://www.flickr.com/photos/refractedmoments/312391360)

_Photo: [Refracted Moments on Flickr.com](http://www.flickr.com/photos/refractedmoments/312391360)_

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I had assumed it was some kind of paper, but that is not so. I learned this in an
article in Wired UK magazine this month, [The Inkjet Counterfeiter](http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazine/archive/2009/11/features/the-inkjet-counterfeiter.aspx)
by Adam Higginbotham.

 

I now know that “UK notes are printed on paper made from a mixture of cotton fibre
and linen rag; euro notes are printed on 100 per cent cotton; and US notes are printed
on paper composed of 75 per cent cotton and 25 per cent linen, giving it a feel 
that’s easily distinguished from the smooth wood-pulp paper commonly used in copiers”.

 

Which would explain, I now realise, why most banknotes can survive an accidental
session in a back pocket in the washing machine.

 

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