When times get tough, a lot of people make jokes about it not being a problem for a printer, because they can just print money. Of course, everyone laughs but the printer, because he or she has heard that one (about a million times). It does, however, bring up an interesting topic, and that is, how do you go about printing things that look like money? What are the rules?

Let’s say you want to print some “play money” for a game, or you want to include a picture of a bill in an advertisement. There is a law that covers that, and it is pretty straightforward. Here’s the law:

Regulations for Reproducing U.S. Currency

PART 411 — COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNITED STATES CURRENCY

Authority: 18 U.S.C. 504; Treasury Directive Number 15-56, 58 FR 48539 (September 16, 1993)

411.1 Color illustrations authorized.

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 25 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, authority is hereby given for the printing, publishing or importation, or the making or importation of the necessary plates or items for such printing or publishing, of color illustrations of U.S. currency provided that:

(1) The illustration be of a size less than three-fourths or more than one and one-half, in linear dimension, of each part of any matter so illustrated;

(2) The illustration be one-sided; and

(3) All negatives, plates, positives, digitized storage medium, graphic files, magnetic medium, optical storage devices, and any other thing used in the making of the illustration that contain an image of the illustration or any part thereof shall be destroyed and/or deleted or erased after their final use in accordance with this section.

The U.S. Secret Service, actually a division of the Treasury Department, is in charge of counterfeiting. If you have any further questions, you can contact their office directly.

One other interesting note—it is against the law to pass a counterfeit bill, even unknowingly. In other words, it is not ‘legal tender’ and there will be no replacement for that bill. So next time you get a large bill, check to make sure it is legitimate.

And how do you tell if a bill is legit? That’s a topic for another day!