Test Note - 1996. It has been recently confirmed by the Reserve Bank that there is a variety of the 1996 $100 to be found in circulating notes within a prefix range of AN to CS.
These notes were printed as test notes to determine the acceptability of a modification to one of the materials in the opacifying ink. This ink is the one used to colour the clear substrate - it is not the final printing ink used for the design features. The latter are commercially available printing inks which need no modification for polymer substrate. It is understood that the opacifying ink is tailored to match the characteristics of polymer substrate.
Up to this point, the second letter of the prefix for all denominations and years has not been greater than "M". For this variety, an additional sheet of 32 notes was printed with prefixes ranging from AN to AZ, BN to BZ and CN to CS. The letter "O"continued to be used in the prefix structure. At first glance, these notes appear to fit the published prefix range of AA 96 to JK 96 but in practice they are an additional printing outside the conventional prefix ranges of AA to AM, BA to BM etc.
In fact, printing of the regular 1996 $100 was interrupted to print these test notes.
Not every number is used; the sequence goes from 999999 to 648001 or 351,999 notes per prefix. Theoretically this represents 11,263,968 notes although it is understood that about 10,000,000 notes were issued. Errors in production and notes used for physical evaluation would account for the difference.
On site testing of the modification to the opacifying ink was positive.
Unfortunately, the one i have got in my collection is a circulated note, i graded it as "Good". The Serial number is AU 96 688585.
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