By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS — A $20 bill originally minted in 1950 may have yielded a false positive reading when swiped with a counterfeit-detecting marker Sept. 28 at Save-A-Lot, 1716 Fort St.
The customer who tried to use the bill to purchase food said she received the bill at her own business, and believed it to be authentic.
The customer voluntarily gave the bill to responding police officers, who said they would send it to a verification center.
The chemical properties of U.S. bank notes printed before 1960 make counterfeit detecting marking pens useless, resulting in false positive readings. The pens are designed to detect regular wood-based printer paper. Older bills have a black Federal Reserve Bank Seal in a specific location, as well as other printed indicators.