Perfect Registration
Used on:
• Bird $10, $50, $500, $1000, and $10000
• Ship $5, $10, $50, $100, $500, $1000, and $10000
• Portrait series all denominations
• 1990 SG25 $50, 1996 MAS25 $25, 1999 M2 $2, 2015 SG50 $50 and $10 commemorative notes
Perfect registration is a security feature where two parts of an image—printed separately on the front and back of a banknote—align exactly when held up to the light. When correctly aligned, the two halves form a seamless, complete image with no visible edges, gaps, or shadowing, regardless of the viewing direction. The only difference is that the image appears laterally inverted depending on whether it is viewed from the front or the back.
This effect is achieved through lithographic offset printing, a method where inked images are transferred from a metal plate to a rubber blanket, and then onto the banknote paper. This technique allows for extremely precise image placement on both sides of the note, which is essential for achieving perfect registration. Because such accuracy is difficult to reproduce without specialised equipment, counterfeit notes often show misaligned images. This makes perfect registration a fast and reliable way to check a note’s authenticity using just a light source.
In Singapore’s banknotes, the use of perfect registration began in the Bird series, where the Merlion motif was perfectly aligned front and back—but only on denominations printed by Thomas De La Rue. In the Ship series, perfect registration was used on all denominations $5 and above, and applied to the fish motif printed at the bottom corner of each note. The Portrait series extended this feature to all denominations, with the Lion Head symbol placed beside the watermark, perfectly aligned on both sides of the note. This same Lion Head symbol was used in the 1996 MAS25 $25, 1999 Millennium $2, and 2015 SG50 $10 commemorative notes. Two other commemorative notes used other national icons for perfect registration: the 1990 SG25 $50 note featured Singapore’s national flower Vanda Miss Joaquim, while the 2015 SG50 $50 note used an image of our founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.