Weird marking on £20 note. What is it?

[allgoodinthehood]

Tried googling and can't find any info. It's a handshake on the back above the serial number. Does anyone know TIA

I didn't marry a Mason, he became one whilst I was married to him. It's full of ex-servicemen like my DH. They enjoy the ceremony, pomp and feeling important They raise a lot of money for charity and are generally harmless. Who knows what goes on 'at the top', but it's the same as every other organisation - police, forces, politicians, banks, religions.

Bizarre that people in this day and age still think it's something to keep secret.

Still weird. And unhealthy. You only need to look at the police force in Scotland to realise how insidious an organisation like that can be with its "pomp & ceremony". The charity aspect is a massive red herring.

I don't know of the issues you speak of. DHs lodge is very open, I can be as involved or as removed as I want. I don't really get involved as it's not my thing at all.

I was dead set against it when he first told me he wanted to join, I actually cried because it was 'too weird' for me to handle. That was just because of the media and conspiracy, reality is dull!

How did this thread turn into a mason discussion 😂

I don't understand - it's just a doodle isn't it?

Went through a period of marking them in my old shop to see if they came back round again

That’ll be the illuminati

I think marking of notes is reasonably common in small businesses for a variety of reasons, though granted less so on new notes. I remember my dad always scrawling on notes when counting them back in the day and marking them.

It still could be Masonic OP, not all Masonic houses operate the same sets of handshake greetings or symbols. It looks more to me like a stamp of the traditional Victorian handshake/handclasping. You see them an awful lot at cemeteries and on jewellery and paraphernalia of the time and they are multi use, so can represent anything from friendship, to love, to a business transaction; the clues are usually in the detail of the sleeves as to what is being depicted. So a 'man's' cuff clapping a 'womans' cuff could be love. Two corporate cuffs= trust in business matters or a deal done.
In cemeteries often the hands are between loved ones, a link between the person living and the one deceased, so you can tell by the gendered sleeve or size of palm which is which. If not this it is often the hand of God clapping the deceased into heaven. The Victorians loved the symbol, what can I say!
Yours looks like a stamp with one corporate sleeve and one plain so I'd assume small business/antiques dealer/Masonic tradesperson, money exchanged for services/something sold so hardly nefarious. Or someone's appropriated the traditionam symbol and deals drugs, which is obviously not as light in subject matter.

I'm so much fun at parties.

Interesting!

@dontgobaconmyheart fascinating! I’ve seen this symbol before but never noticed different cuffs - will look out in future

It’s just a small drawing that someone’s done.

Funny, the smallest mention of a Freemason and posters get their knickers in a right bunch
I’ve never seen that before OP, maybe it’s the illuminati

@Frustratedmum78 perhaps it's to do with how you are defining yourself, certainly not aspirational is it... "knickers in a bunch" is such a naive way of looking at womens disdain for men's special handshake clubs. Makes you wonder doesn't it, "mum".

Looks like it's been marked by someone or something. I used to handle a lot of cash in retail and you'd be surprised how often people do mark or stamp notes for various reasons.

There's counterfeit spotting guides online- the BoE has a good one, unless you've got a counterfeit checker pen- which obviously now only work on 20s and 50s. There's probably diy tests along that line, too although I'd be careful.

A kid with a stamp

A shop counting a large sum of money using marker points

Illuminati

I always assumed masons were secret rasist culty old men who are secretly gay and that’s why they don’t like the wimin in the club house?

Unhelpful to the thread