Making Money in Maine - Currency Hot Off the Press

I recently had the great pleasure of attending the 2009 Northeast Kingdom Typography Congress held in Portland, Maine, at Wolfe Editions and at Ascensius Press in South Freeport.

The main theme of the congress was printing money - no not counterfeit money - but artistic impressions in the spirit of money.

Using the extensive collection of presses, type, ornaments, ink and paper at David Wolfe's Pleasant Street studio, here are the results:


















These note are obviously not real. But the one that follows is all-too-real. This $100 Trillion note from Zimbabwe was brought to the Congress by banknote expert Mark Tomasko from his extensive collection. Back in April, you could buy some eggs for breakfast with this.