“On b&w copiers, the printer only sees and copies very dark images. If it does not see something, it does not lay any ink or toner in that area of the copy. Even if the original bound certificate was on a security paper, the background would not copy in b&w. They is the idea of using security paper in the first place.”
you’re EXACTLY right. the design on the security paper would NOT show through on a copy. Rather, it would appear as solid white, as you indicated. however, looking at the attached image (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/barack-obama/birth-obama-certer-movement-098513?page=2), you can see the green security paper THROUGH the BC which indicates to me that the BC would have to be transparent in order for that to happen. the entire portion of the BC should be white and therefore block out the underlying green security paper. the image appears to be PRINTED on green security paper rather than an a photocopied image SUPERIMPOSED onto green security paper. do you see?
It would appear as whatever color the paper it's being printed on. The copier just picks up the dark parts and moves them over to the new paper.
Uh.... my friend.... copy machines do not have white ink. They can't print white. The can't see white. They can only copy images. White is the absence of an image.