Not pure black. If I set the black level properly in the scan or afterwards (I usually do it afterwards, then black would be pure black. On the Obama Cert the black in many places has a color cast. I just sampled one area and got: 27/45/31 (RGB). Pure black would be 0/0/0.
I'm baffled by the lack of chromatic aberration myself. This is not quite the same as monochrome. It is color fringes around sharp edges caused by lens distortion.
If it is a photocopy on safety paper as claimed by one official, there should be aberration and I don't see any. I have thought that perhaps the photocopier has a set amount of aberration reduction. I can do this easily in photo editing software, I don't know about copiers.
I'm pinging cartan in case he (she?) has anything else to add on this.
thanks for your post.
You’re quite welcome. Please ping me if cartan responds.
This would be a very technical “miss,” one I could see even a good forger making...