Recently my aunt brought me a 1 Perper banknote that she found in an older wallet, the banknote seems a bit off to me, and here are the factors, the paper seems off, the banknote is 2mm smaller than it should be. I already have some original perpers and I compared them and the paper seems slightly different. Can anyone tell me if they know, any way that I can identify if its real or not?
I am no expert in Montenegrin banknotes, however to me it appears that these note may have been hand cut, though very unlikely, might explain the 2mm difference. I would say it is genuine, also checking for any texture in the areas printed on and closely inspecting fine details like small text and patterns may help you determine if it is counterfeit or not. It would also be unlikely that someone would produce a counterfeit of such a small denomination.
2mm is within the margin of error for cutting notes down in this era. Notes of many countries issued prior to the 1960s vary in size slightly. I have many such examples from Ireland which vary in size up to 2-3mm, and occasionally up to 5mm. Sometimes the cut is also not straight, which gives the note an interesting off square appearance.
Update: I found another one, it is in similar condition, slightly better but still VF grade. I was skeptic but I checked the serial numbers and they are different. Very strange that I found this and if its a fake its a very good one.
