By George Righter
Happy 250th birthday America! In the spring of 1779 General George Washington’s spies were increasingly becoming paranoid about the British uncovering their identity and hanging them. There were a lot of meet ups, handoffs, and transporting of important, time-sensitive letters and documents. The American spy ring was given some hope when Washington was able to procure a unique security ink.
Back then and for even centuries prior, people had been communicating with special inks that became visible once exposed to acid, heat, or light. For example, a memo written with onion juice was only readable when held to a candle.
The problem with these security or masking techniques is that they were well known. The Americans needed an exclusive method that the British could not decipher. John Jay, the Hudson Valley spymaster, was able to procure an exclusive invisible security ink from his older brother who dabbled in chemistry.
This particular ink formulation became visible only when “painted” over with a special stain or varnish referred to as a reagent. Both the ink and the reagent were made from a complicated recipe, which obviously became a valuable product, that could only be made in tiny batches. It was nearly an unbreakable code. Even if the British knew a letter was drafted in white invisible ink, they had no way of revealing it without being in possession of the custom-made reagent.
This helped alleviate some of the paranoia the spies were experiencing, and of course allowed critical letters to be passed, some of strategic importance involving troop and naval movement, without being found out.
My company Rightertrtack works with specialty security ink companies and chemists to develop exclusive tamper evident and anti-counterfeit label solutions for Fortune 500 companies.
If you liked the above article or have an interest in security printing techniques, here are a few links to some of my older published articles:
SpecialtyDetective Inks Provide Visual Evidence | RighterTrack
Anti-CounterfeitingWith Taggants | RighterTrack
Easy,Low-End Security Printing | RighterTrack
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